Month in Review – New Brunswick

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Month in Review – New Brunswick

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LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

New Laws

Jul 15: The federal government is investing nearly $4.4 million through the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) Provincial and Territorial (PT) Agreement stream to support four water, stormwater, and wastewater projects across New Brunswick. The province is providing an additional $2.9 million and municipalities are contributing $1.57 million. The recipient municipalities: Harvey, Sussex, St. Stephen, and Grand Lake.

Training

Jun 30: New Brunswick’s Northern Hardwood Research Institute will receive $483,791 in funding under the new Canada-New Brunswick Workforce Tariff Response agreement to develop courses, an online training platform, and other resources to support forestry workers affected by tariffs.

Action Point: Find out about the 8 ways the U.S. tariffs affect Canadian workplaces and HR activities.

Health & Safety

Jul 9: WorkSafeNB released its 2025 Annual Report. Highlights: Lost-time injuries rates for all employers remained stable at 1.1 per 100 workers as did overall injury frequency at 1.6 in 2025, which is above the agency’s target of 1.25 by 2029. Severe injury frequency increased slightly from 34 to 36 per 100,000 workers. Traumatic psychological injury claims decreased by 26% to 167 and fatalities declined from 15 to nine.

Health & Safety

Jun 5: New Brunswick launched a new tick bite tracking tool to raise awareness of areas in the province that are at higher risk for blacklegged tick bites. The new tracker complements the government’s ongoing tick surveillance efforts, allowing people to view reported tick bite information and risk areas categorized by health zone.

Action Point: Go to the HR Insider website for a Tick Safety Awareness Infographic you can post at your workplace.

Workers’ Compensation

July 31 is the deadline to comment on proposed improvements to the New Brunswick workers’ comp system. Among other things, WorkSafeNB is considering consolidating the various pieces of legislation impacting workers’ comp into a single Act to improve clarity and accessibility.

Workers’ Compensation

Jul 9: According to WorkSafeNB newly published 2025 Annual Report, the workers’ compensation fund funded position for the year was a robust 161%. After distributing $180.6 million in 2024, the agency returned another $53 million to eligible employers in performance refunds in 2025, all while maintaining Canada’s second lowest average assessment rate of $1.10 per $100 assessable payroll.