Legislature adjourns for election with final clash over Higgs's leadership

On the last day of the final session of New Brunswick's 60th legislature, former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Dominic Cardy invoked another, earlier Tory milestone.

On June 7, 1999, he pointed out, New Brunswickers elected the PC government of Bernard Lord,"a government that showed that after that party was subjected to the pressure of right-wing populism, it pushed back, and it showed that it could win," Cardy said.

Cardy, an independent MLA who quit Premier Blaine Higgs's cabinet in 2022, is not running in this fall's election, so Friday was his last day in the house.

He invoked Lord's centrist approach as one that led to a victory across geographic, ideological and linguistic lines an approach he says Higgs has eschewed with a shift to the right.

Earlier PC governments were "part of an interrupted thread of progress of a party with a noble and rich tradition in this province's history [that] I hope will once again rise again," Cardy said.

That parting shot was a fitting endnote to a legislative session in which Higgs's governing style was the focus of debate like never before in his six years as premier.

"The premier has created a culture of circumventing process," Opposition Liberal Leader Susan Holt said during the final question period, which she spent grilling Higgs about $173 million in travel-nurse contracts signed under his watch.

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Former cabinet minister reflects on how Progressive Conservatives have changed under the leadership of Blaine Higgs

Holt quoted Dorothy Shephard, who quit Higgs's cabinet last year and who described him as a leader unwilling to listen to expertise and prone to impulsive, reckless decisions.

As he's done throughout the session, Higgs didn't shy away from the suggestion he is breaking the mould of conventional PC politics.

"What [Holt] doesn't talk about is the tremendous success in this province and what we're doing now that's never been done before," he said.

He pointed to record population growth, six consecutive balanced budgets, lower income taxes and increases in minimum wage and social assistance rates.

"We can talk about decisions made and changes and all that, but our province is stronger and better than it ever has been," Higgs said a paraphrase of his planned campaign slogan.

As question period exchanges go, Friday's was a concise distillation of the choices facing New Brunswick voters when they go to the polls on Oct. 21.

Higgs said his decisiveness is responsible for lower taxes, more prosperity, and $2 billion shaved off the province's accumulated debt, a reduction that has lowered the interest charges the government must pay and freed up more money for services.

"This may sound like an election list, but you know what it is? It's an action list that's been completed," Higgs said.

The session that wrapped up Friday saw 41 bills passed, including legislation that forced five public-sector employee groups into a shared-risk pension plan they have spent a decade fighting.

That had been on Higgs's to-do list since his days as finance minister a decade ago.

All three parties in the legislature unanimously supported legislation that will create and enforce new regulations to expand accessibility for people with disabilities.

But there was a lot of unfinished business, too.

The government postponed a promised Compassionate Intervention Act that would have allowed authorities to force homeless people with severe drug addictions into treatment.

A planned reform of local government taxation and financing did not materialize either, and a consultation on mandatory paid sick leave went nowhere.

But the government got most of its agenda through because six unhappy MLAs on the government backbenches did not prove to be as disruptive as some expected.

The six Tories voted against Higgs last June on changes to Policy 713, which now requires parents to consent if children under 16 want to adopt a new name or pronoun at school to reflect their gender identity.

Those changes which Holt also attributes to the premier's impulsive decision-making are facing two court challenges alleging they violate constitutional rights.

The half-dozen PC MLAs who broke ranks on the issue are not running again, but they opted not to vote against government measures during this session.

"We've had our challenges without doubt within our own group and it hasn't been easy. We have a group of individuals that are all passionate about what they do and passionate about how they represent their ridings," Higgs said in a closing speech Friday.

"It has been difficult, and I make no excuses for that, because it's reality. But we've persevered."

Higgs said however that he's confident that some of the new candidates running including Nicolle Carlin, his former top communications adviser will see the government "continuing our work and tackling our objectives, and returning stronger than ever in the fall."

Health Minister Bruce Fitch also referenced the fall election, needling Holt's Liberals for losing some ground in a new Narrative Research poll released this week.

Narrative's poll showed 37 per cent of respondents planned to vote Liberal, compared to 34 per cent who will support the PCs and 13 per cent will vote Green.

The sample, gathered from May 8 to 30, has a margin of error of 6.5 percentage points in 19 out of 20 polls of that size.

Because Liberal support is often concentrated in northern and francophone ridings, the party could need more than a three-point lead in the popular vote to win more seats than the PCs.

Holt pointed to another part of the same poll showing only 29 per cent of respondents were satisfied with the Higgs government's performance a record low, according to the polling firm.

PC MLA Jeff Carr, another of the unhappy departing members of Higgs's caucus, didn't attempt to spin the usual upbeat predictions of an inevitable party victory when he spoke to reporters.

But he didn't write the Tories off either.

"A lot of members of PCNB have left, and there are some gaps there right now, although the people who are left behind know how to campaign," he said.

"So the October election will be interesting to see."