17 March 2023
Hon. Jill Green, Minister, Service New Brunwick
P.O Box 1998, Lincoln Place
Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5G4
Via email: jill.green@gnb.ca
Re: Fredericton Service New Brunswick Office
Dear Minister Green:
Following up on our conversation earlier today, I am writing to underscore the importance to our community of having a busy government office such as Service New Brunswick in a business-centric area such as the downtown core, where it is currently located. We appreciate your decision to make this a public process through expressions of interest. Working collaboratively with the City of Fredericton to proactively address parking concerns with proposals is a great example of collaboration between our municipal and provincial governments.
Having a vibrant and bustling downtown is important to economic growth and sustainability in most communities – including Fredericton. Currently, the Service New Brunswick location on Queen Street is well positioned to draw individuals to the downtown core, where they will often avail themselves of other services such as restaurants, retail, recreational activities and more. This generates economic activity, which in turn keeps people employed, provides government(s) with tax revenue and makes our community a more attractive place to live.
As you are aware, the downtown area in the city has had a number of challenges recently and we are hopeful that the Service New Brunswick office can remain in or near the downtown core to avoid another blow to this critical economic area. We often say that governments can learn and implement best practices from the private sector, but government cannot be run exactly like a business. Service New Brunswick is not a business, and we hope this decision will be made considering the impact on our community as a whole – not just what is best for the bottom line of the organization.
Sincerely,
Krista Ross, CEO, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce