Gallant says he never offered PC leader a job with the Liberal government

Liberal Leader Brian Gallant doubled down Thursday morning on his insistence that he never offered Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs a position in the Liberal government in 2014.

Gallant released three pages of handwritten notes he says he took at a meeting with Higgs four years ago that he says was convened to see if the former PC finance minister had any useful ideas to offer the new Liberal government.

But Gallant says there was never any job offer, as Higgs claimed in a dramatic moment duringWednesday night's CBC election debate.

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"Very clearly, [there are] no notes whatsoever about his joining the Liberal government in any shape or form," Gallant told journalists on his campaign bus Thursday morning.

In fact, Gallant said, "it seemed like he wanted to explore the idea."

Higgs jolted the televised leaders' debate by pulling from his pocket an affidavit he had sworn saying members of Gallant's campaign team spoke to him after the PC defeat in 2014 about becoming either finance minister in Gallant's cabinet or the deputy minister of finance.

Gallant's Thursday morning scrum with reporters aboard his bus reiterated the written statement he released after the debate.

The Liberal leader did not rule out that someone else raised the idea with Higgs, but said he would have vetoed it.

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"If there were other people or officials that would have met with him and gave him that impression, it certainly wasn't with my authorization."

Gallant said he spoke Wednesday night with Len Hoyt, the Fredericton lawyer who headed his transition team, and Hoyt "says he does not recall any of that."

The Liberal leader said Higgs appeared to have considered his 2014 meeting with Gallant as a "job interview."

'Absolutely bizarre'

In a Sept. 24, 2014 interview with CBC News, Higgs declared himself open to co-operating with the victorious Liberals.

"I would share my plan with others because I think we need to do that," he said. "We need to build on what each other learns."

But he also said joining the new Gallant government was "not a consideration at this time."

Gallant said Thursday morning it was "absolutely bizarre" that Higgs made the allegation about the job offer in a signed affidavit notarized by Moncton lawyer Robert Goguen, a former Conservative MP.

"He's basically saying, 'Sometimes Ifib, sometimes I mislead you, but now I'm willing to sign an affidavit, signed under oath, so now it must be the truth.'"

The PC campaign released a more detailed timeline of the conversations Higgs says he had with Liberals in 2014.

They began with a lunch with Gallant at the Crowne Plaza, then two meetings with other Liberal officials where Higgs discussed and gave a presentation on his budgeting plans.

Higgs had two more meetings with Hoyt at which he offered Higgs the two positions, the campaign said.

The PC leader said he didn't turn down the offer immediately but finally rejected it sometime in November.

Higgs told reporters Thursday he was fed up with Gallant's attacks on his record. "Enough is enough," he said.

Moncton Centre independent candidate Chris Collins backed Higgs's account on Thursday, saying he recalled seeing Gallant and Higgs having lunch at the Crowne Plaza in Fredericton across from the legislature a month or two after the Liberals were sworn in.

Later that day, Collins said, Liberal political staffers told him what the lunch was about. "They said, 'We're talking to Higgs about coming over.' "

Collins, who was ejected from the Liberal caucus earlier this year over allegations he harassed a legislature employee, said bringing Higgs into the fold would have been a good idea.

"I'm kind of surprised the premier would deny it," he said.