Strategic Priorities

Share Strategic Priorities on Facebook Share Strategic Priorities on Twitter Share Strategic Priorities on Linkedin Email Strategic Priorities link

Thank you for contributing to Let's Talk Horizon! Consultation has concluded. 

Determining priorities is essential to any strategic plan, and we hope you will share your ideas on what top three areas we should be focusing on.


Before doing that, we think it’s important to understand some of the current economic realities and demographic information of our province.


  • Health expenditures (including hospital services, long-term care services, physician salaries, prescription drug programs, and ambulance services) amount to 41 per cent of the provincial budget.
  • New Brunswick’s population as of 2016 was 747,101 and we are the only province in Canada to report a decrease in population.
  • Approximately 51 per cent of New Brunswickers live in rural areas.
  • The average age of a New Brunswicker is 43.6 which is an increase from 1966 when the average age was 28.8.
  • Immigrants represent 4.6 per cent of New Brunswick’s population.
  • From 2006 – 2016, New Brunswick’s Indigenous population grew by 67.1 per cent and today one out of every 25 New Brunswickers is Indigenous.
  • In 2018, the province’s public debt reached $13.9 billion.
  • Half of New Brunswick families have an income of $59,347 or less.
  • New Brunswick has the second lowest literacy rates among Canadian provinces.


We understand some of this information is bleak – but it doesn’t have to be. It’s important to understand some of our province’s challenges when sharing your ideas below on how to improve our future.

We hope you will help us develop new initiatives by sharing your ideas below.



Determining priorities is essential to any strategic plan, and we hope you will share your ideas on what top three areas we should be focusing on.


Before doing that, we think it’s important to understand some of the current economic realities and demographic information of our province.


  • Health expenditures (including hospital services, long-term care services, physician salaries, prescription drug programs, and ambulance services) amount to 41 per cent of the provincial budget.
  • New Brunswick’s population as of 2016 was 747,101 and we are the only province in Canada to report a decrease in population.
  • Approximately 51 per cent of New Brunswickers live in rural areas.
  • The average age of a New Brunswicker is 43.6 which is an increase from 1966 when the average age was 28.8.
  • Immigrants represent 4.6 per cent of New Brunswick’s population.
  • From 2006 – 2016, New Brunswick’s Indigenous population grew by 67.1 per cent and today one out of every 25 New Brunswickers is Indigenous.
  • In 2018, the province’s public debt reached $13.9 billion.
  • Half of New Brunswick families have an income of $59,347 or less.
  • New Brunswick has the second lowest literacy rates among Canadian provinces.


We understand some of this information is bleak – but it doesn’t have to be. It’s important to understand some of our province’s challenges when sharing your ideas below on how to improve our future.

We hope you will help us develop new initiatives by sharing your ideas below.