Governing the province during the war years and through harsh economic times, McNair is credited with introducing a succession of budgetary surpluses, undertaking a massive rural electrification program, improving education in rural areas, expanding the role of the civil service, centralizing the provincial government offices and New Brunswick Electric Power Commission in Fredericton. Following the war, he introduced a variety of social benefit programs, began the modernization of the highway system, and created a Department of Industry and Reconstruction to ensure a smooth economic and social transition for the province from wartime to peacetime.