The last two years have been tough on New Brunswick taxpayers. Wages are barely keeping up with inflation; the government is charging more for everything from driver’s licenses to beer and everyone is paying more in added gas taxes.  

With the province running an over $200 million deficit and important services like health care and education feeling the pinch. It’s time for government to cut back on unnecessary spending and put money into priority areas. Well that is exactly what the Alward government has been saying since coming into power, yet there is one expense that cabinet seem loath to cut: their taxpayer-funded private plane.

It seems one perk of being appointed a government minister, is that you no longer need to concern yourself with those big pot holes on New Brunswick highways or waiting in pesky line-ups at the airport. Instead you get access to a fancy private plane to take you anywhere you want to go, and whenever you want to go.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, private planes don’t come cheap. It costs about $1,500 an hour to operate the plane.

To pick up a minister in St. Leonard and fly him to Fredericton and back costs taxpayers about $2,000. To put that in perspective; opting for the private plane costs about 20 times more than taking the same trip by car and charging mileage or five times more than hiring a limo and doing the drive in style. (It costs about $400 plus tax to hire a limo to do the 2 hour 40min trip).

And the only check on the usage of the plane rests with a fellow member of cabinet - the Minister of Transportation. He and his deputy ensure that plane is used “properly and efficiently” (as the Minister has put it in the past).

In these times of economic restraint, holding fast to this luxury calls for some kind of explanation especially since other provinces have sold their plans to save money.

Neighbouring Nova Scotia sold its plane back in the 1980s when the government started to rack up huge deficits. Given that politicians there regularly make the four hour drive to either end of the province (Yarmouth or Sydney) from the legislature in Halifax it’s difficult to understand why New Brunswick cabinet ministers should not be expected to do the same.

British Columbia, a much larger and more populace province also got rid of its plane. Politicians there schlep around on WestJet and Air Canada flights like the rest of us, unless it makes more economic sense to fly privately in which case they rent a charter.

New Brunswick owning a private plane originated with former Premier Richard Hatfield. The current plane in use was purchased back in 2008. The then Liberal government shelled out a little over $5 million for it. A similar used plane has sold for approximately $3 million – think of what we could do with that money.

To their credit, the government announced in the budget that it was reviewing what to do with its plane. But taxpayers shouldn’t be too optimistic. It’s not an independent review. The government, led by the very cabinet ministers flying in the plane is conducting the “review.”

Taxpayers of New Brunswick have made sacrifices to ensure the government can balance its budget without raising taxes yet again. Since they’re doing their part, it is time for the politicians to do theirs and end the gravy plane once and for all.