Affordability
Childcare
Liberal's promises
"Reduce the administrative and regulatory burden on childcare operators to enhance their ability to provide the best care possible for children." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Fuel and transportation costs
Liberal's promise
"Immediately remove the Higgs Gas Tax, saving you around 4 cents a litre at the pumps." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Post-secondary
Liberal's promises
Poverty and the minimum wage
Liberal's promises
"Increase the capacity of New Brunswickers receiving social assistance to participate in the workforce without financial penalty or loss of benefits." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Increase social assistance rates given the rising cost of food and housing, while ensuring regulations are not penalizing recipients." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Tax measures and rebates
Liberal's promise
"Immediately remove the provincial sales tax (PST), on electricity providing 10% relief from home energy bills." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Climate Change & the Environment
Air quality
Liberal's promise
"Our government will require that all new schools, hospitals, long-term care homes, and other public buildings have modern air filtration, heating, and cooling systems, following ASHRAE 241. For existing infrastructure, we will add suitable air filtration and cooling units." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Carbon pricing
Liberal's promise
"While we move to a 100 percent non-emitting grid, we will work with the federal government to ensure big emitters bear the brunt of the price on carbon." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Climate adaptation
Liberal's promises
"Review and update our emergency preparedness plan for dealing with the increasing number of extreme climate change-related weather events." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Implement a coastal erosion plan to protect communities." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Conservation
Liberal's promises
Green construction and retrofits
Liberal's promises
Pollution
Liberal's promises
"Implement the recommendations of the Legislative Assembly’s all-party Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship to increase restrictions on pesticide and herbicide use, including examining the banning of aerial spraying." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Power generation
Liberal's promise
"Deliver an energy plan that provides affordable, reliable, clean energy for New Brunswickers and New Brunswick businesses." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Liberal's promises
Walkable, bikable communities
Liberal's promise
"Work with communities to increase active transportation infrastructure, including walking and cycling trails, to build healthier communities." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Education
French immersion
Liberal's promises
K-12 funding
Liberal's promise
"Develop a fresh 10-year plan with teachers and other education professionals, experts, and parents to set a collective vision for education." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
K-12 learning needs
Liberal's promises
"Support inclusive education for all students by reviewing class composition and identifying and filling the staffing, training, and resourcing gaps impacting the effective implementation of Policy 322." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Ensure schools have adequate staffing, spaces, and resources to provide classroom support in literacy, numeracy, and learning behaviours, which will provide students with more small group or one-on-one practice." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
K-12 staffing
Liberal's promises
Post-secondary
Liberal's promises
School nutrition
Liberal's promise
"Provide nutritious universal free breakfast and pay-what-you-can lunches to all New Brunswick students leveraging local, New Brunswick food where possible." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Trades
Liberal's promise
"Provide grants to New Brunswickers who have studied to work in high-priority fields, including healthcare, the building trades, and education." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Healthcare
Air quality
Liberal's promise
"Our government will require that all new schools, hospitals, long-term care homes, and other public buildings have modern air filtration, heating, and cooling systems, following ASHRAE 241. For existing infrastructure, we will add suitable air filtration and cooling units." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Cancer
Liberal's promise
Drugs and addiction
Liberal's promises
"Invest in treatment beds throughout the province, ensure there is a bed for anyone who wants it when they want it, and ensure that there is an optional continuum of care for those exiting treatment." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Family doctors and primary care
Liberal's promises
"Establish and support at least 30 community care clinics that offer local, collaborative care from a variety of health professionals in one place when you need it." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Provide dedicated non-clinical staff and administrative support to these clinics to ensure healthcare providers are focused on patients, not paperwork." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Improve the compensation model for doctors and primary care providers, including fair pay for those who perform after-hours care." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Health administration
Liberal's promises
"Invest in modern technology, including centralized waitlists and standardized digital records management systems, to facilitate the seamless and secure exchange of patient information among healthcare providers, regions, the regional health authorities, and community care clinics." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Make our public health office independent to ensure unbiased and evidenced-based decision- making and research are communicated to all New Brunswickers." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Health staffing
Liberal's promises
"Create a multi-pronged plan developed for all healthcare professionals to improve working conditions, prioritize support for their wellness, and increase retention." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Immediately deliver retention payments to show our respect for nurses and examine other tools that aid retention and recruitment." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Leverage existing healthcare knowledge by working with regulators to improve foreign credential recognition for nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals already in our province and looking to call New Brunswick home." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Hospitals
Liberal's promise
Indigenous health
Liberal's promises
"Invite First Nations leaders to create a bilateral forum and ongoing process with the goal of achieving culturally safe and equitable healthcare for Indigenous people in New Brunswick." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Support, collaborate, and engage with First Nations healthcare leaders in achieving their Health Transformation design and implementation process." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Work in partnership with First Nations to co-create and implement mental health and addiction programs that meet culturally safe First Nation service and practice standards of care." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Long-term care
Liberal's promises
"Expand the Nursing Homes Without Walls model and ensure that those who want to stay at home can do so for as long as possible." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Ensure all existing nursing home beds are accessible by filling staffing gaps by investing in wages for personal support workers and resident attendants ultimately resulting in increased hours of care." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Establish sector standards and transparent reporting practices with a robust system for complaints that leads to quick responses and better overall delivery to ensure our seniors continue to receive excellent care." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Mental health
Liberal's promises
"Ensure mental health professionals are located in as many community care clinics as possible to ensure mental health is being treated as primary care and reduce the frequency of acute mental health challenges." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Increase residency seats for psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, and develop a retention and training plan for psychologists, counsellors, and other mental health professionals, specifically within schools." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Invest in community-based case management approaches for front-line service providers currently providing mental health support." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Create a Mental Health Advocate position to ensure New Brunswickers struggling with mental health and navigating the system have a champion." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Expand mental health court access to ensure the promotion of alternative pathways for justice." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Natal care
Liberal's promises
Seniors
Liberal's promises
"Implement a caregiver benefit for unpaid and informal caregivers of aging family members, giving caregivers $250 a month to recognize their contribution." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Work with communities to develop and implement a strategy that better supports those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Provide funding for safety and accessibility retrofits for New Brunswick seniors and people with disabilities who wish to stay in their homes." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Sexual and reproductive health
Liberal's promises
"Increase access to fertility treatments by funding one round of IVF, which is in line with jurisdictions across Canada."
"Ensure New Brunswickers can better access abortion services by amending regulation 84–20." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Housing & Homelessness
Affordable housing
Liberal's promise
"Model a Community Housing Retention and Expansion Pilot to fund housing in the non-profit and community sectors that support capacity building pre-construction costs, and acquisition." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Home construction and supply
Liberal's promise
"Work with companies to increase investments in made-in New Brunswick solutions like modular and offsite housing." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Home purchases and ownership
Liberal's promise
Homeless services
Liberal's promises
"Invest in long-term and sustainable core funding for transition homes and frontline domestic violence services, including women’s shelters and additional support services." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Provide wraparound services to those experiencing chronic homelessness, starting with housing, and support a community case management approach." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Work directly with municipalities and community groups already grounded in a housing-first approach and support their expansion." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Public housing
Liberal's promises
Rental housing
Liberal's promises
Jobs, Businesses, & Labour
Arts and culture
Liberal's promises
"Consider arts and culture as important economic and social drivers. Better leverage opportunities to invest in our artists, cultural and creative industries, and institutions to ensure good-paying jobs and a robust creative economy that all New Brunswickers can be proud of." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Infrastructure
Liberal's promise
"Maximize the benefit of infrastructure to New Brunswickers by leveraging an asset management plan for transportation infrastructure to ensure roads and bridges are prioritized for repair or replacement and that contractors are paid on time." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Pay equity
Liberal's promise
Poverty and the minimum wage
Liberal's promises
"Increase the capacity of New Brunswickers receiving social assistance to participate in the workforce without financial penalty or loss of benefits." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Increase social assistance rates given the rising cost of food and housing, while ensuring regulations are not penalizing recipients." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Startups and small businesses
Liberal's promise
"Increase productivity by reviewing and improving investment tax credits like SBITC and scientific research and economic development (SR/ED) credits to ensure investments in research, automation, and technology." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Trades
Liberal's promise
"Provide grants to New Brunswickers who have studied to work in high-priority fields, including healthcare, the building trades, and education." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Society & Government
Budgets
Liberal's promise
"Balance the budget in each year of our mandate." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Government transparency and decision-making
Liberal's promises
"Strengthen the Public Interest Disclosure Act (Whistleblower Act) to ensure anonymity and employment protections for the whistleblower." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Immigration
Liberal's promise
"Focus immigration pathways on critical labour needs like healthcare, building trades and education, and supporting newcomers to make New Brunswick home." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Indigenous reconciliation
Liberal's promises
"Commit to rebuilding relationships with First Nations based on a nation-to-nation relationship that establishes trust and a shared understanding of treaty obligations. We will renegotiate tax agreements to ensure all parties have a fair deal." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Justice system
Liberal's promise
"Expand mental health court access to ensure the promotion of alternative pathways for justice." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Languages
Liberal's promises
Legislature
Liberal's promise
"Ensure our legislative assembly and its practices are modern and fit for purpose including set calendars, remote participation, and modernizing committee work." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Lobbying and political donations
Liberal's promises
"Modernize and strengthen the lobbyist registry to enhance transparency and accountability." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Ban out-of-province political donations to increase trust in our political parties." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Municipal funding and government
Liberal's promise
People with disabilities
Liberal's promises
"Explore a plan for a basic income for New Brunswickers living with disabilities." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
"Provide funding for safety and accessibility retrofits for New Brunswick seniors and people with disabilities who wish to stay in their homes." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Racism
Liberal's promise
"Immediately review and respond to the Systemic Racism Commissioner’s Final Report, working on a timely plan to implement its recommendations." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
Misc. topics
Parks
Liberal's promise
"Provide New Brunswick residents 25% off the cost of provincial park passes to encourage exercise and spending time outdoors." — Team Holt: Focused On You, retrieved 2024-10-12
They may still in the future!
Biography
Brian Stephenson is an economist, lawyer and teacher focused on solutions and a vision for a future that excites our imagination.
Brian worked on big business turn-arounds with the federal Finance Department and, later, with the government of Manitoba. He practised law in Saint John and was VP and Director of Operations in a corporate aviation firm in Toronto. Brian taught economics and management in an Ontario high schools “magnet” program International Business and Technology.
Back in NB since 2013, Brian teaches in high schools most days. He was president of the Saint John HDC for nine years. Concerned with homelessness, generational poverty and the economy around it, Brian looked for a reliable source of growth for NB and founded the One in a Million parmi nous population initiative to engage NB leaders with the need to grow.
Complex preparation for complex problems – education, healthcare, housing, cost of living and more. Thoughtful solutions and effective action.
Raised in Saint John, Brian lived in Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Toronto, but Westfield, in Kings Centre, was his first home, his children’s first home, his summer home still, and the place that has his heart. Stephensons have been in Kings Centre well over a century.
Brian has been a House of Commons Page, student leader, scout leader, community leader, badminton coach, church treasurer, non-profit director and campaign worker. He and Adele revel in their 7 children, 5 grandchildren … and counting.