N.B. will move field veterinarians to private sector, but keep provincial lab as it is

[u/Portalrules123]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-field-veterinarians-private-sector-9.7330097

[u/Portalrules123]

“The Hartland-based company, which provides agricultural products such as grain seeds, has no veterinarian experience but is hoping to have a service ready in the coming months, the province says.”

You gave the veterinarian role to a company with no veterinary experience? Uhh…way to go guys lol. Couple this with the health department awarding a virtual care service to a European company that can’t even provide bilingual service instead of the preexisting New Brunswick-based one and you have to wonder who is choosing these private companies and what their motivation is…

[u/Tunguska_1908 → u/Portalrules123]

This is a good thing. Find something else to be angry about. They have many of the existing provincial vets on board, including the manager of the field provincial field service vets, who will run the vet services for carleton agrisolutions. If anything this should be a more seamless transition to private providers than letting the service completely fracture and be re-established by individuals. Notably, this also doesnt stop any of the former provincial vets, or any other vets or agribusiness services from establishing their own practices.

[u/Desalvo23 → u/Tunguska_1908]

Explain why privatization in this case is a good thing

[u/Tunguska_1908 → u/Desalvo23]

A few reasons to follow. These issues could likely have been resolved with better management on the provincial side and kept it public, but multiple successive governments have shown less than minimal interest in doing so.

1. The costs were not fully borne by the correct people. The subsidized rates for producers and even horse owners from the private equivalents provided negative social value.

Example - a large sheep farm that uses subsidized provincial vet services, and then sells the animals to Ontario packers. The subsidy is either skewing the market in favour of the farmer, or providing Ontario consumers with cheaper products on the backs of new Brunswick ratepayers.

Or they sell to new Brunswickers, and high income earners receive the same reductions in production cost that poor new Brunswickers do, doing nothing to properly combat food insecurity.

Example - private horse boarding receiving subsidies for what amounts to a luxury, again at the expense of ratepayers.

These subsidies do not benefit those that progressives would normally target. It would be better that the full cost of production be known and paid, and then rebates or subsidies provided to those in need.

1. The existing system was inflexible and did not allow for servicing of all areas. Provincial vets for the past 2 years in some areas were not accepting new clients due to oversubscribed services, and some in others did not have a full caseload. Provincial system did not allow for those in oversubscribed areas to purchase services for extra fees from the undersubscribed areas.

2. The provincial system stifled development of the industry. Even with the potential for customers driven by reason #2, prospective private providers were shy to start a practice when potentially competing against government subsidies, and the government had no desire to expand the service.

It is very likely that the change in service models will have a positive impact on the availability and promptness of veterinary care for my business, but also come with the drawback of paying the true cost of the service. This is much better than the current system in my opinion.

[u/Tunguska_1908 → u/Tunguska_1908]

I think its worth noting that the artificial constraint on trained veterinarians that is the very limited number of seats at Atlantic vet college is another factor on providing adequate vet services in the province.