News Release

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Local governments will be sharing about $28 million under Phase 3 of the Safe Restart Agreement.

Phase 2 of the $41 million Safe Restart Agreement has been completed under which 69 local governments received more than $11.1 million to cover net losses in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thirty-five municipalities indicated they were not submitting a claim under Phase 2 because they either had no related expenses or had savings to offset any expenditures related to COVID-19. Complete funding details for all three phases, including how much each local government will receive in Phase 3, is available online.

“This is great news for all the local governments. Not only were we able to fund the losses related to the pandemic in 2020, but the $28 million remaining is being allocated on a per-capita basis and will be available to local governments as non-budgeted revenue for 2021,” said Local Government and Local Governance Reform Minister Daniel Allain.

The Safe Restart Agreement is a federal investment of more than $19 billion to help provinces and territories safely restart their economies affected by the global pandemic. New Brunswick received $41 million under the municipalities stream of the agreement.

Under Phase 1, $1.6 million was provided to support transit systems in Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John, and $360,000 for Edmundston to enter into an agreement with Maritime Bus to keep its northern New Brunswick routes open until the end of 2021.