Editing New Brunswick (section)

====Provincial finances====
{{Update section|date=April 2025}}
In 2015, New Brunswick had the most poorly-performing economy of any Canadian province, with a per capita income of $28,000.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Brunswick's 'struggling' economy ranks near bottom of report |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-s-struggling-economy-ranks-near-bottom-of-report-1.2642653 |publisher=CBC |access-date=16 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016184411/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-s-struggling-economy-ranks-near-bottom-of-report-1.2642653 |archive-date=16 October 2015}}</ref> The government has historically run at a large deficit. With about half of the population being rural, it is expensive for the government to provide education and health services, which account for 60 per cent of government expenditure. Thirty-six per cent of the provincial budget is covered by federal cash transfers.<ref name="patriquin">{{cite magazine |last1=Patriquin |first1=Martin |title=Can anything save New Brunswick? |url=http://www.macleans.ca/economy/can-anything-save-new-brunswick/ |magazine=Maclean's |access-date=16 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116081810/http://www.macleans.ca/economy/can-anything-save-new-brunswick/ |archive-date=16 November 2017}}</ref>

The government has frequently attempted to create employment through subsidies, which has often failed to generate long-term economic prosperity and has resulted in bad debt,<ref name="patriquin"/> examples of which include [[Bricklin SV-1|Bricklin]], Atcon,<ref>{{cite news |title=Atcon was so badly managed, taxpayers' $63M was never going to save it, AG finds |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/atcon-funding-auditor-general-report-1.4317029 |publisher=CBC |access-date=16 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008193130/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/atcon-funding-auditor-general-report-1.4317029 |archive-date=8 October 2017}}</ref> and the Marriott call centre in Fredericton.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fredericton call centre closure will cost 265 jobs |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fredericton-call-centre-closure-will-cost-265-jobs-1.1165217 |publisher=CBC |access-date=16 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328002830/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fredericton-call-centre-closure-will-cost-265-jobs-1.1165217 |archive-date=28 March 2018}}</ref>

According to a 2014 study by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, the large public debt is a very serious problem. Government revenues are shrinking because of a decline in federal transfer payments. Though expenditures are down (through government pension reform and a reduction in the number of public employees), they have increased relative to GDP,<ref name=aims/> necessitating further measures to reduce debt in the future.

In the 2014–15 [[fiscal year]], provincial debt reached $12.2&nbsp;billion or 37.7 per cent of nominal GDP, an increase over the $10.1&nbsp;billion recorded in 2011–12.<ref name=aims>{{cite web |last1=Murrell |first1=David |last2=Fantauzzo |first2=Shawn |title=New Brunswick's Debt and Deficit |url=http://www.aims.ca/site/media/aims/AIMS2014-NB Debt Study, Final %28prepared for publication%29%281%29.pdf |publisher=Atlantic Institute for Market Studies |access-date=17 November 2017 |date=2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010203848/http://www.aims.ca/site/media/aims/AIMS2014-NB |archive-date=10 October 2017}}</ref> The [[debt-to-GDP ratio]] is projected to fall to 36.7% in 2019–20.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/canadian-fiscal/prov_fiscal.pdf |title=Canadian Federal and Provincial Fiscal Tables |date=14 January 2020 |website=Economic Reports |publisher=Royal Bank of Canada |access-date=18 January 2020 |archive-date=5 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205160447/http://www.rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/canadian-fiscal/prov_fiscal.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>