Cattle producers push back as N.B. moves to end provincially run veterinary care

FREDERICTON — A group representing cattle farmers in New Brunswick say it takes issue with the province’s plan to axe government-run veterinary services.

The New Brunswick Cattle Producers Association says Premier Susan Holt’s Liberal government is taking a critical service for farmers and using it as a cost-cutting measure.

It says it will survey members and report back to the province on alternative paths forward.

The Holt government announced in its budget it would phase out provincially run field veterinary and laboratory services over three years, handing off animal medical care to private providers.

Agriculture Minister Pat Finnigan says delivering these services is expensive and cutting them is the only way the government can better fund health care and education, and lower the cost of living.

Progressive Conservative legislature member Kathy Bockus says the government has failed to consider the farmers who depend on accessible large-animal veterinary care.

“Eradicating the provincial large vet services hits hard the people who feed us,” Bockus told the house this week. “You’ve struck a devastating blow to the heart of New Brunswick’s agriculture community.”

New Brunswick is one of the only provinces still operating government-funded veterinary services, with Newfoundland and Labrador being the other.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2026.

The Canadian Press