New Brunswick Budget Has Historic $1.4B Deficit, Plans for Highway Toll Into NS

New Brunswick Finance and Treasury Board Minister René Legacy speaks at a press conference prior to delivering the provincial budget in the Legislature in Fredericton, on March 17, 2026. The Canadian Press/Stephen MacGillivray

The New Brunswick government says health-care spending helped push the budget for the next fiscal year into a record deficit, and the province plans to raise revenue with a new toll on a highway into Nova Scotia.

Introduced on Tuesday, the $15.6-billion budget is in deficit by $1.39-billion—the largest shortfall in the province’s history, according to Finance Department staff.