FOG BLOG NB NEWS LOG: HIGGS GOVERNMENT TO HAND OUT CHEQUES TO OFFSET HIGH COST OF FOOD, GAS!

New inflation relief program targets 'most vulnerable' in New Brunswick Money will go to people already receiving low-income or housing benefits The Higgs government says it will distribute a one-time payment to low-income New Brunswickers to help them deal with soaring gasoline and grocery bills.

The Emergency Fuel and Food Benefit will see low-income individuals receive $225 and low-income families, including seniors, receive $450.

More than 75,000 people are eligible, and the money will go to people already receiving low-income or housing benefits from the Department of Social Development, the province said in a news release.

"We wanted to get it to a targeted group, a group we could roll it out quickly to, and they could feel the benefit right now, over this time period," Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters. Premier said.

The release doesn't say when the money will be distributed, but Higgs said Tuesday that the program would get money out "quickly," sometime this month.

That represents a reversal for Higgs.

Earlier this spring, he suggested that he'd have to wait until the third quarter of the fiscal year to see sales tax revenues and decide if a rebate or some other form of relief was affordable, or if people were cutting back enough on gas to deprive the province of a tax windfall.

But Wednesday, the premier said it appears gas consumption is remaining steady, "and that gave us some confidence that we'd have some money that we could put into the system."