N.B. leaders debate tax cuts and health care [Video]

New Brunswick’s Liberal leader challenged her Progressive Conservative opponent on Wednesday night to explain how his plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes will help fund a health system struggling to care for a growing population.

Susan Holt, the Liberal Opposition leader trying to deny Blaine Higgs a third term in office, said his promise to cut the harmonized sales tax by two percentage points — to 13 per cent — is irresponsible and risks pushing the province toward privatized health care.

“The premier has made the single most expensive campaign commitment of anyone on this stage. More expensive than the entire platform that a Holt government is going to put forward,” she told the leaders debate in Moncton, N.B., hosted by CBC.

When fully implemented, the tax cut will cost $450 million a year, a number Holt said will put services at risk, especially health care, …