FREDERICTON — New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs is promising synagogues, mosques, churches and community organizations more money for security measures, including the installation of surveillance cameras. With two weeks left in the provincial election campaign, Higgs, who is vying for a third term as premier, said Monday if re-elected his party would take "harder and harder lines on crime." "In an ever-changing world, we are increasingly aware of the need to ensure that our public spaces, including places of worship and community gatherings, are secure and protected," he told reporters in Fredericton.
He said that particularly for religious institutions, "there are growing concerns about safety. That's why today we are taking action." A re-elected Tory government, he said, would amend the terms of the Community Investment Fund to allow non-profits to apply for funding for such things as security cameras and stronger locks on their doors.
The fund provides $70,000 every year to each legislative assembly member to support community projects and priorities. In January, a synagogue in Fredericton was vandalized in what the public safety minister called a "cowardly antisemitic attack." On Monday Higgs was asked why his government waited until now to make more money available for security.
"I think that everything that we do going forward, we will always say, 'could it have been done fast enough?'" he said. "..
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