New public safety minister to focus on drug enforcement, Higgs says

New Brunswick has a new public safety minister, chosen to "ramp up our intensity" in fighting drug crime, according to Premier Blaine Higgs.

First-term Progressive Conservative MLA Bill Hogan will take on the job, which is responsible for policing, other provincial enforcement officers, and emergency management.

Veteran cabinet minister Ted Flemminghad held the job since after the last election and will remain minister of justice and attorney-general.

Higgs announced the change to his cabinet on Wednesday afternoon, the first change since his post-election shuffle in 2020.

He said he wanted Hogan to focus on drug crime in rural areas, explaining that the province has moved from below to above the national average on Canada's crime severity index, a Statistics Canada measurement.

The province also has the highest index in Atlantic Canada.

"Drug-related crime is at the heart of this trend, and it must be addressed," he said.

He said Hogan's experience as a town councillor, teacher and school principal "has given him direct insight into the connection between mental health, the drug trade, crime and the impact it can have on the youth of our province and the community at large."

Lieutenant-Governor Brenda Murphy swore in Hogan during a Zoom call. The virtual ceremony was necessary because the new minister tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day.

One of Hogan's first responsibilities will be renewing the province's mandatory COVID-19 order under the Emergency Act. By law it has to be renewed every two weeks or it expires. Flemming signed the latest version on Feb. 18.

Hogan said he was feeling fine.

Before his positive test, he attended a meeting of the legislature's public accounts committee Wednesday morning, where MLAs followed mask and distancing rules.

Hogan said "several" of his PC colleagues tested themselves for COVID-19 after his positive test and all were negative. "I'm happy and pleased about that."

Hogan represents the riding of Carleton. He is a former French immersion teacher and principal of Woodstock High School and, unlike most of Higgs's ministers, is fluently bilingual.

Higgs said he chose the Carleton MLA for "all his qualities" but added that given drug use is a special concern with young people, "the fact that Mr. Hogan can speak to the youth in any part of the province is definitely an asset."

Flemming's departure from the public safety portfolio comes despite his notable use of tough-on-crime rhetoric over the last year.

Last July he used a section of the province's policing contract with the RCMP to trigger the replacement of the top Mountie in the province, assistant commissioner Larry Tremblay.

Flemming explained that the government wanted drug crime to be a top policing priority in the province but felt the situation was "out of control."

"We want to declare war on these people," he said in October.

Higgs said moving Hogan into the public safety role wasn't a reflection on Flemming.

"I don't think it's a case of Minister Flemming not being able to continue. I think it's a situation where we're putting an emphasis on public safety and rural communities and communities through out our province that have continued to face crime issues."