Environmental groups worry provincial trust fund will run dry

Oliver Pearson · CBC News

· Posted: Aug 20, 2026 5:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 20

Some New Brunswick’s environmental groups are worried about the dwindling provincial trust fund that supports their operations.

New Brunswick’s environmental trust fund once had a steady stream of revenue, including bottle deposit money.

But the former Progressive Conservative government did away with that funding arrangement in 2023, and the current Liberal government hasn't decided on a replacement.

Instead, the fund has been relying on surplus money that was accumulated in years past and has been steadily decreasing.

Vanessa Roy-McDougall, the executive director of Nature NB, is among those who fear the fund will run dry.

WATCH | Some solutions on the table, environment minister says:

“We're nervous about what's going to happen in the next year or two with the loss of stable income for that fund," Roy-McDougall said.

This fiscal year, the fund is using $7.9 million to support 173 projects, leaving about $8 million in the pot.

The fund helps groups that protect and manage the environment and also provides support for similar work by local governments, rural districts and First Nations. Some groups do work such as water testing and species-at-risk monitoring.

“We've heard so much about algae blooms and cyanobacteria, and a lot of these groups are testing our water,” said Danielle Smith, the director of education and engagement for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

“If we were to lose some organizations due to the fund not continuing, I think it would have quite a huge impact on people's ability to access these natural wonders."

She said her organization, which received funding for an outdoor education program, gets as much as 20 per cent of its funding from the trust fund.

Roy-McDougall said Nature NB also gets about 20 per cent of funding from the trust fund. Without the money, she’d have to decrease the number of projects it can do.

Smith thinks if some organizations lost the provincial fund they’d have to close or switch to volunteers only.

• New Brunswick's Environmental Trust Fund rejected 40% of applications this year

• Hidden consumer fees created to finance new bottle refund program

Roy-McDougall and Smith both attended an announcement Thursday in Fredericton, where Environment and Climate Change Minister Gilles LePage highlighted some groups that are getting money from the fund.

They were hoping to hear more about the future of the environmental trust fund.

“I'd really like to see a concrete plan, how they plan to continue to invest in this project, sort of what mechanisms are they going to use in order to maintain a sustainable programming throughout the years so that we're not dealing with this," Smith said.

LePage addressed the funding concern in his closing remarks.

“I know this is on everybody's mind today, and it has been on mine,” he said.

“Trust me, we've come up with a few solutions. We're still studying a few solutions. We're still studying a little bit more how it will be, how can we roll it out and how can we finance more … projects.”

LePage said there’s been consultation on how to improve the fund, and there should be more information on its future this fall. But working out its future will mean some hard decisions.

In the meantime, depending on how the remaining $8 million is used, it could support one or two years' worth of projects.