A4

By QUENTIN CASEY
Canadaeast News Service

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

If elected premier, the vice-president of a Sussex company would reduce taxes, slash poverty in Saint John, reinstate early French immersion and build four-lane highways between Campbellton and Shediac, and Fredericton and Saint John.

Robert MacLeod also promises to investigate new passenger rail routes in the province, as well as trim property tax rates for seniors on limited incomes.

MacLeod is the second candidate to release a campaign platform, behind Riverview MLA Bruce Fitch.

Though many details must still be filled in - including cost estimates - the vice-president of G.E. Barbour Co. said the province needs new ideas.

"We have to think of new ways of doing things," he said Monday. "We need fresh thinking."

For example, MacLeod said new passenger rail service - perhaps linking Saint John and Moncton - could provide cheap and environmentally friendly transportation.

The big-ticket items in his plan concern more twinned highways, notably from Campbellton to Shediac, and the rough stretch from Saint John and to Fredericton.

"For everybody in the province to have an opportunity to compete in a global economy, we've got to be able to get from the northern part to the southern part of the province in a safe and timely manner," he said. "Businesses have to be able to compete. We have to link up these communities properly."

MacLeod said the coming windfall from Saint John energy projects must be used responsibly. He suggested fighting the port city's "unacceptably high" poverty.

"We're into a period of big projects that are going to generate some big revenue for government," he said. "It would be a sin if we came out of this in 10 years and hadn't solved some of the social problems we have."

The 53-year-old also committed to reducing personal income taxes, cutting corporate income tax for small- and medium-sized businesses, reversing changes made to French immersion by the Liberals, and trimming property taxes for seniors in need so more seniors can stay in their homes, instead of moving to nursing facilities.

MacLeod said his ideas must still flow through a Conservative policy conference scheduled for sometime in 2009.

"It's a very general document, with lots of detail to be added," he said. "These are some ideas from 30,000 feet that Robert MacLeod wants to throw out there for discussion."

Prof. Tom Bateman, a political scientist at St. Thomas University, said public response to MacLeod's platform largely depends on those missing details.

For example, does he merely want to "turn the clock back" on Liberal French immersion changes, or does he propose ways to improve a system many said was fundamentally flawed?

Specifics are also critical for taxation reform, Bateman said.

"How many dollars will the revenue fund lose because of those cuts and where's the revenue going to come from then?" he said. "Does he expect reductions in those taxes to stimulate the economy to pick up the slack? If so, what's his evidence?"

The leadership convention is slated for Oct. 18 in Fredericton, where MacLeod will battle Fitch and Woodstock MLA David Alward.