Victor Boudreau has no place in Parlee Beach issue, David Coon says

Green Party Leader David Coon says Health Minister Victor Boudreau should recuse himself from any involvement with the Parlee Beach contamination issue because of his investment in a proposed campground nearby.

Coon said Boudreau's judgment could be compromised because he has a financial interest in the beach remaining a popular destination.

"He needs to recuse himself from any further comments on the situation with the beaches and leave it up to the medical officer of health," Coon said.

Boudreauhas said the province is working on a response to high counts of fecal bacteria during the summer tourism season earlier this year.

Blind trust

While an opposition MLA, Boudreau became a partner in a proposed 650-site campground near Parlee Beach.

When he became a government minister again in October 2014, he placed his stake in the business in a blind trust, meaning he has no role in running the business.

But Coon said Boudreau, whose duties include responsibility for protecting public health, will still be aware that his investment could be affected by the beach's fate.

"Sure, it's in a blind trust, but at the same time he still has an interest in it," he said.

It's human, it's not animal, and it doesn't fall from the sky.- David Coon, Green Party leader

Boudreau said last week that the government can't act to solve the problem until he knows the source of the problem.

"Departments and governments over the years have struggled to try to pinpoint exactly what the issue is," he said last week.

Coon laughed at that, saying it's clear the fecal counts are from sewage getting into Shediac Bay.

"It's human, it's not animal, and it doesn't fall from the sky," he said.

'Push pause'

Coon called for the government to "push pause" on any expansion of development near Parlee, which he said will produce more sewage than the system in place can cope with.

He said it's "quite scandalous" that Parlee was kept open in August 2016, despite tests showing fecal counts that would have triggered a closure under Canadian guidelines.

"Something's wrong here," Coon said.

"We need to be closing our beaches when they pose a health hazard to visitors."

He also said the Tourism Department, which has an interest in promoting Parlee Beach, should not also be deciding when to warn the public that it's not safe.

• Water monitoring at Parlee Beach failed to meet Canadian guidelines
• Parlee's pollution problem: 'Politicians are getting in the way'
• Parlee Beach plagued by poor water quality this summer

"It doesn't make any sense that it has that responsibility."

He said the chief medical officer of health, Dr. Jennifer Russell, should be ordering the beach closed when fecal counts are too high.

"We don't have that kind of a system operating, clearly."

Conflict ruling last year

Last year, New Brunswick's conflict of interest commissioner exonerated Boudreau in a separate complaint related to the campground.

The owner of a competing campground alleged he used information he gained as the local MLA to benefit his own campground venture, but commissioner Alfred Landry found there was no evidence of that.

Besides Boudreau's campground, a 220-site campground at nearby Cap-Brul is also going through a provincial environmental impact assessments. Nearby residents say it could also add to the sewage problem.