Blog Post
This blog post was written by Dr. Herb Emery, Dept. Chair, Professor, Vaughan Chair of Regional Economics
University of New Brunswick
Greener Growth Starts with Better Business Conditions
The Green Horizons initiative identifies the opportunity for New Brunswick SMEs to leverage “sustainability to enhance their competitiveness, innovate their operations, and contribute to a stronger, greener economy”. The Pond Deshpande Centre has highlighted the green achievements of several SME business pilot initiatives. For those promising pilots to scale to an extent that SMEs can drive the greening of the provincial economy, the provincial government will need to lead in creating the business conditions to enable more firms to invest and pursue sustainability strategies. At this time in New Brunswick the provincial government is reviewing policy options for two important contributors to business costs – the future of NB Power and power rates, and property taxation. If the province opts for one or both of those reforms to put more cost burden on to business over relieving business, then we shouldn’t expect to see SMEs investing in sustainability as a strategy for competitiveness. A poor business climate leads businesses to rationally focus on short run survival over long term growth.
In 2026, it is not clear that an SME adopting sustainable practices has much policy impetus to do so. SMEs faced business challenges to play this clean growth role for the province even before 2025 when climate action and decarbonization were provincial, national and global priorities. For SMEs to leverage sustainability to enhance business competitiveness, they need customers to be willing to pay higher prices for the greener services and products, or they need to have confidence that they would have time to amortize their fixed costs of changing their capital, facilities and/or operations to place a bet on a profitable (enough) greener future.
The cost-of-living increases of the past few years has resulted in customers not showing a willingness to bear higher prices even for good reasons like a greener future. The cost-of-living increases after the pandemic created a competing business priority with green initiatives for SMEs. Businesses face pressure to increase compensation for their employees so that their employees’ purchasing power of income doesn’t fall too far. If SMEs have to choose between helping employees today or investing in the chance at green growth in future, then what will they choose? What does the Province want them to choose?
It is not clear in 2026 whether the province or Canada have climate goals to meet, and commitments to regulations that will incentivize lower carbon footprints for business, that attract customers or allow access to new markets. In the past year, the Federal and Provincial governments have backed away from their commitments to climate goals and climate actions like carbon pricing to address more immediate economic concerns like US tariffs and affordability concerns of Canadian households. Indeed, the provincial government’s goal of improving energy affordability for residents is working at cross-purposes with climate sustainability goals. The province’s turn to natural gas for electricity generation and its efforts to lower gasoline prices signals to SMEs that there is a risk of serious short run cost disadvantage from investing in higher near-term cost green energies and fuels over continuing with intensive use of lower cost carbon emitting energy.
If we wish to see a greener economy as a source of strength for SMEs and the New Brunswick economy, then the provincial government will need to start working to improve business conditions and to recognize and promote the green achievements of business in the province. The Province needs to make decisions and take actions that improve the confidence of SMEs that business conditions will improve so that SMEs will invest. The Government of New Brunswick is engaged in two once in a generation policy reforms that can provide immediate and strong signals to business that their costs and business uncertainty will improve. The review of NB Power is expected to be completed in Spring 2026 and the revamped property tax system has been promised for 2026. A greener, stronger New Brunswick economy driven by business investment can be a dividend of decisions to address power rates and property tax burdens faced by businesses in the province.
Why hasn’t the province’s green record been a source of competitive advantage?
The Green Horizons initiative identifies the opportunity for New Brunswick SMEs to leverage “sustainability to enhance their competitiveness, innovate their operations, and contribute to a stronger, greener economy”. For the Green Horizons initiative to succeed at scale we need to tackle a big “elephant in the province” which is why our “best in class” carbon reduction record among provinces has not been a source of competitive advantage for provincial businesses.
If sustainability, and GHG emissions reductions in particular, were important for competitiveness, then why aren’t we seeing more business growth in New Brunswick? New Brunswick GHG emissions have been below the national target for emissions reductions of 30% below 2005 levels since 2015. In 2023, only New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have achieved GHG emissions reductions on pace for the national target. For this remarkable status to support the reputation of the province as a greener place to do business shouldn’t someone be making Canadians and businesses aware that New Brunswick can offer that competitive advantage?
A province’s record in reducing GHG emissions is not sufficient in and of itself to create a competitive advantage. Climate policies and regulations have not rewarded the province for its GHG reduction record and have largely increased the costs of doing business in our province. If federal climate policies had been based on provinces achieving GHG reduction targets, rather than provinces collectively reducing GHGs to achieve a national reduction target, then New Brunswick might have had an actual business cost advantage. If provinces were left to price carbon and regulate to achieve provincial targets then New Brunswick would have offered a low, or even no, carbon price. Instead, New Brunswickers paid the same price for carbon as Canadians in provinces which have seen emissions rise since 2005 so that carbon pricing would not influence business competitiveness across provinces. The federal clean fuels standard had a negative effect on fuel costs in the province because we have the only refinery that exports significant quantities of fuels that were not eligible for cost offsets like the integrated oil refiners in the rest of Canada.
SME Business Confidence in New Brunswick
If we wish to see SME’s adopt sustainable practices to strengthen competitiveness, then the province needs to build SME confidence in future business conditions and profitability. For that to happen, the province needs to create the margins between revenue and costs for SMEs to invest by looking for ways to reduce business costs and cost uncertainty created by government policies, regulations and other decisions.
Since 2009, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has surveyed businesses in Canada about their expectations for business conditions. The CFIB Business Barometer Index includes a question, “How do you expect your firm to be performing in 12 months compared to now?” Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, over the calendar year around 60 percent of businesses would expect their business to be performing stronger in the coming year. Coming out of the pandemic, while some months can still see the index reaching 60 percent, there are larger swings in the index around the post-COVID19 normal of around 50% of businesses expecting improvements. The index for New Brunswick follows the index for Canada overall. It would appear that with lower business confidence SMEs in recent years, the conditions to encourage investment in the province are not strong.
The CFIB survey asks respondents “What types of input costs are currently causing difficulties for your business?” For the national survey report, around 60% of respondents listed “Tax, regulatory costs”, “Wage costs”, and “Insurance costs”. Nearly half of responding firms report “Occupancy costs (rent, mortgage, property taxes). Only 36% reported “Electricity costs” as a source of difficulty.1 In New Brunswick 65% of respondents reported “Insurance costs”, and “Tax, regulatory costs”. Compared to the national response rates, New Brunswick SME responses for “Electricity Costs”, “Fuel costs” were 10 percentage points higher.2.
The CFIB (2025, Table 10, page 15) surveyed Canadian businesses and asked businesses “If governments at any level were to reduce the overall burden of taxes and fees, what would your business do with the savings?” Respondents could choose multiple responses. Over half of businesses indicated that the tax savings would be used to increase employee compensation and/or pay down debt. Nearly half indicated that the tax savings would be used to “Expand our business” which is the only reported response category that might include investments in sustainability.3
To support SMEs in making investments in the province, and investments for sustainable operations in particular, these “business difficulties” need to be addressed. That requires actions and decisions where possible, to reduce costs for business inflated by government policies, taxes and regulations. If cost relief for business is not possible, then the provincial government needs to instill confidence for business that the cost difficulties won’t get worse. At this time, SMEs in New Brunswick face an expectation of rising costs and no clear signs of their cost increases moderating. Property taxes and electricity prices provide two salient cases to consider.
Property Taxes
The Government of New Brunswick is currently undertaking reforms of the property tax system in the province and has recently completed the consultation stage of the process. This once in a generation policy reform is a critical opportunity to improve business competitiveness to create the capacity for provincial SMEs to make investments in sustainable operations. The GNB report on “what was heard” during the property tax consultations did not seem to cover much about property taxation of business in the province even though the calls for reform to property tax prior to 2024 were often focused on allowing municipalities to shift property tax effort from residential property owners to industry and business.4 5 If business competitiveness is not a consideration of the property tax reforms, and the province chooses, or enables municipalities, to shift more tax burden onto business, then we shouldn’t expect to see much investment from SMEs in the province.
Found and Tomlinson (2020) demonstrate that in Canada, property taxes levied on businesses are major contributors to business tax burdens that impede investment. “Before a business decides to locate or expand in a given jurisdiction, it must consider the tax implications of such an investment. Heavy tax burdens reduce potential returns, driving investment away to other jurisdictions and, with it, the associated economic benefits.” Found and Tomlinson estimate the 2019 marginal effective tax rate (METR) for the largest city in each province by aggregating corporate income taxes, retail sales taxes, land transfer taxes and business property taxes. Their METR measures the “tax burden for a hypothetical investment that has the same net-of-tax return regardless of where in Canada it is located… If the cost of investing in a Canadian jurisdiction is higher than the cost of investing elsewhere, that jurisdiction’s capital stock will be smaller than it otherwise would be. The higher the METR, the greater the investment loss and overall economic harm.” (https://cdhowe.org/publication/best-and-worst-major-cities-business-tax-burdens/)
Found and Tomlinson show that the overall tax burden on business investment in Moncton compares with most jurisdictions but the large share of that burden attributable to provincial property tax stands out as an opportunity to reduce tax burden and stimulate investment. Their Figure 1 (reproduced below) shows that the statutory corporate income tax rates levied by the province and the federal government are smaller contributions to the METR on capital investment than in other provinces, but provincial Business Property Tax is a much larger contribution. An interesting comparison of the composition of METRs in Halifax and Moncton shows that Nova Scotia relies on taxing business income rather than the real property occupied by businesses compared to New Brunswick. This is true even after accounting for Municipal property and other taxes.
Source: https://cdhowe.org/publication/business-tax-burdens-canadas-major-cities-2019-report-card/
(CIT=Corporate Income Tax; RST=Retail Sales Tax; LTT=Land Transfer Tax; BPT=Business Property Tax)
For the 10 provinces in Canada and 20 states in the United States, the CFIB (2025, page 6) calculated tax burdens of a defined microbusiness (4 employees, $150,000 Pre-tax net income and $450,000 of property owned) and a defined small business (25 employees, $1 million Pre-tax net income and $3 million value of property owned). For each size of business, the CFIB estimated the business taxes paid for a firm with the set amount of revenue, pre-tax net income, employees, and property value across different locations. The CFIB calculations included four categories of taxes that businesses pay – income/franchise taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes and additional municipal taxes. For each province and state, municipal taxation is based on the largest municipality.
Excluding location-based taxes – property taxes and municipal taxes – New Brunswick micro businesses have lower tax burdens than the Canadian average, and small businesses are as burdened as the Canadian average. This reflects the relatively low use of provincial payroll taxes (WorksafeNB only one listed) and a low statutory provincial corporate income tax rate.6 The CFIB comparative analysis highlights that SMEs in New Brunswick bear a much higher tax burden than SMEs in other provinces because of property taxes. And property taxes include a much higher tax collection by the provincial government in New Brunswick than in other provinces. Of the total property tax collected from business, nearly 45% is for provincial property tax. New Brunswick has a unique situation that it has more room to reduce its overall property tax burden on business simply by reducing provincial property tax rates.
Table 1: Composition of CFIB Tax Burdens on Micro and Small Business in Moncton and Averaged for the Largest Cities in 10 Provinces
| Moncton Micro | Halifax Micro | Can Avg Micro | Moncton Small | Halifax | Can Avg Small | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll Taxes | $25,700 | $30,200 | $27,500 | $161,000 | $189,000 | $177,000 |
| Income Taxes | $12,100 | $11,100 | $12,100 | $115,000 | $88,000 | $115,000 |
| Property Taxes | $18,800 | $14,400 | $11,700 | $125,000 | $101,000 | $81,000 |
| Total Taxes | $56,600 | $55,700 | $51,300 | $405,000 | $378,000 | $373,000 |
For business, while no particular tax is likely considered desirable, property taxation would be one of the least desirable forms of taxation. Property taxes are not sensitive to business income and must be paid in a given year whether the business is profitable or not. That means that the province chooses to take its revenue without risk, putting greater investment risk on to business compared to if the province taxed business net income. If the province were to reduce the burden of property taxation on business and shift to business income taxes, SMEs would likely have much more capacity, and face less risk, to invest and green their operations.
NB Power Review
In April 2025, the Government of New Brunswick launched a comprehensive review of NB Power. Premier Susan Holt stated that “This comprehensive review will help make sure that we are doing everything we possibly can to provide low and stable power rates for New Brunswickers, provide safe, reliable service, and make sure NB Power is able to operate in an affordable, competitive and sustainable way. As I have said before, everything is on the table because the status quo is no longer an option”.7 The review process is expected to complete in March 2026.
The figure below shows the problem for SMEs as NB Power’s power prices have been increasing steadily over the past few years. The index shows the power price in a province relative to the price in 2014 so it is not showing where power is cheaper or more expensive across provinces. It shows where power prices have increased more or less than in other provinces.
After 15 years of slow increase in power prices for SMEs after 2006, since 2022 power prices are up 20% and expected to rise by similar amounts over the next few years. While the increases are not as large for NB SMEs than they are for large industry, power costs are eroding SME capacity to invest. If changes can be made to stabilize power rates or keep the increases more in line with general cost inflation (CPI), then SMEs may feel more confident about investing in their NB businesses, particularly for longer term goals like sustainability of operations.
Source: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810020401
There are a range of policy alternatives to consider if the Government of New Brunswick wishes to establish conditions for an affordable energy supply to ensure the province retains its existing industrial base and creates conditions for future export growth. In 2010, the Atlantica Centre for Energy based in Saint John New Brunswick proposed several policy options for reducing energy prices for industry. One option that would reduce the growth in power prices in the province overall would be to transfer some or all of NB Power’s sizeable debt to the province. That would shift the costs of debt service from the electricity ratepayer to the taxpayer. Another option would be to restructure power rates to allow for less burdensome power costs for businesses. This would represent a return to pre-2007 NB Power rate structures in the province. Atlantica also recommended exploration of regional opportunities to strengthen the electricity business model.
Conclusion
Environmental sustainability efforts of business on their own are unlikely to enhance business competitiveness, particularly in the absence of government commitments to climate goals and policies to support green investments. Environmental sustainability investments of SMEs are a challenge due to deteriorating business competitiveness in New Brunswick. For SMEs to green their operations, the Provincial government will need to create better business conditions for investment through a range of reforms to taxation, regulation and policies to improve access to inputs at reasonable costs. If businesses can gain confidence in their on-going profitability, then environmental sustainability could be the social dividend of government efforts to improve business conditions.
References
1. https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/research-economic-analysis/business-barometer
2. December 2025, Business Barometer® Provincial Summaries, page 6
3. CFIB (2025) Uneven Ground:Canada’s Business Tax Disadvantage Compared to the United States
4. “New Brunswick property tax overhaul” https://www.gnb.ca/en/gov/engagement-consultation/consultation-property-taxes.html On page 14 of the GNB consultation report, there was a single reference to “residential versus industry tax burden”
5. Prior to the pandemic, property tax reform discussion had included consideration of how to shift more of municipal property tax burdens onto industry to provide tax relief to residential property taxpayers. Proposals for increasing property taxes collected from industry included changing the property assessment system to include Machinery and Equipment, or to introduce more differentiation of tax rates across classes of property. Harry Kitchen and Enid Slack (2017) Municipal Property Tax Issues in the City of Saint John: A report prepared for the City of Saint John. https://saintjohn.ca/sites/default/files/2021-03/10.%20Kitchen%20and%20Slack%20Final%20Report%20-%20August%202017.pdf ( August 2017)
6. Page 25,26. Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) (2025) Uneven Ground: Canada’s Business Tax Disadvantage Compared to the United States. September. https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/research-economic-analysis/uneven-ground-canada-business-tax-disadvantage-compared-to-the-united-states In 2025, New Brunswick also has relatively low payroll taxes for worker’s compensation among Canadian provinces. Halifax’s higher payroll tax burdens than Moncton in Table 1 are attributable to worker’s compensation payroll tax differentials. See CFIB (2025) Appendix 6, https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/hubfs/research/reports/2025/uneven-ground-supplementary-info-en.pdf
7. Government outlines plan for NB Power review. April 14, 2025 – https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2025.04.0138.html
Follow Along
This blog is a part of the research summaries for the Green Horizons project. For more information on the project and more, visit www.ponddeshpande.ca/green-horizons.
