The provincial government released its Comprehensive Minerals Strategy on March 2, 2026, in Toronto. Premier Susan Holt and Natural Resources Minister John Herron reiterated the prioritization of economic growth, development, and new jobs.
The province’s new strategy speaks to attracting outside investment and becoming competitive globally, but does not explain how it will protect the people and their communities that are affected by mining projects.
Conservation Council executive director Beverly Gingras says jobs and investment are not the only thing New Brunswickers are looking for.
“They want to be safe in those jobs, right? They want to make sure their environment is safe, they want to make sure their health is safe, they want to make sure the wellbeing of the communities is safe, and they want to make sure that that job is going to be long-lasting,” said Gingras.
Gingras says New Brunswickers are the most important investor that the government needs to reach to convince that mining in the province is a good idea.
“I don’t think that the strategy they have put together does a good job of that.”
The executive director says that although it makes sense to focus on attracting those in the mining industry with this new strategy, it also is a good idea to speak to people who are going to be impacted by these projects.
“Organizations that work with protecting people’s health, other indigenous groups such as the Grand Council, speaking to people that work and live locally about what is important to them in terms of industrial development, and what they would be looking for in a strategy that’s going to reassure them that their investment, time, money, environment, and health is going to be taken seriously when developing mining in the province,” she said.
Gingras points out that mining is not new to New Brunswick, that citizens can see the legacy that mining has left behind.
“There’s lots of evidence in this province where mining investors have come in, mined for a little while and then prices go down and the businesses leave. The local people are left behind to pick up the pieces, all the environmental damages, damages to their health, damages to their local economies,” said Gingras. “I am not reassured that cycle is going to be broken, and I don’t think most New Brunswickers who’ve lived through these cycles are reassured either.”
She referenced the Caribou Mine and Mount Pleasant Mine as a few examples of projects that have left a scar.
“With a lot of these mines, the ones that have tailings pawns, that means the public is paying for tailings management, making sure that there’s no toxic effluent going into our lands and streams. The public has to pay for that when the companies leave, so that’s coming right out of public purse,” said Gingras.
Gingras says she recognizes the importance of the province’s need for jobs and money coming into the province, but argues that the health of the public and their environment is equally important.
“The government has signaled that they want to review regulations, they want to make sure projects are done speedily in terms of environmental assessments. They are in a deficit, so are they going to be cutting money to environmental groups, to their own departments, the ones that are supposed to be monitoring and making sure that our health and safety are protected?” Gingras said. “If we see the government start to take shortcuts in terms of regulations and process and then also reduce budgets, then that is a signal to me that they are not concerned about how these large industrial activities are having an impact on New Brunswickers now and in the future.”
