Another New Brunswick cabinet minister has resigned amid calls for a leadership review of Premier Blaine Higgs.
Trevor Holder, who represents the district of Portland-Simonds and was the minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training, and Labour, said in a letter Friday that he needs to “do some significant soul searching after a 24-year legislative career.”
“I have served in the Cabinet of 3 separate Premiers. I have always fought for my constituents within a party and caucus structure. My respect for that process has led to better results for my community and my province — until recently,” the letter also said.
“Under the leadership of Premier Higgs, caucus has been less about consensus and more about him getting his own way.”
The Higgs government has been embroiled in controversy over changes to Policy 713, which will make it no longer mandatory for teachers to use the preferred pronouns and names of transgender or non-binary students under the age of 16.
Members of the LGTBQ2+ community have decried the changes, expressing concern over its impact on trans youth, and New Brunswick’s youth and child advocate has described the province’s rationale for the changes as incoherent.
Eight members of the Tory caucus, including Holder, sat out question period earlier this month to protest the changes, and a group of New Brunswick Progressive Constituency presidents are pushing for Higgs to be ousted.
Brian Harquail, a past president of the New Brunswick PC party is among those calling for Higgs to resign.1
“Trevor Holder is someone that I hold in a very high regard, Trevor has been my friend for many, many years,” Harquail said in an interview Friday.
“To hear that he’s resigning as well, that says a lot about the man, it says a lot about what’s going on and I hope it gives people the opportunity to reflect on what’s happening. When you get guys like Trevor Holder saying, ‘I’m jumping ship now because I think what’s going on is not right,’ that brings me to attention.”
Though Holder did not mention Policy 713 in his letter, he said it is “no longer possible” to maintain the integrity of the caucus system under Higgs.
“On several occasions, I have sat down with Mr. Higgs to explain and instill in him the importance of working with caucus and offered whatever help might be needed in that regard,” the letter said.
“Unfortunately, this offer to help has simply been met with nothing but more frequent caucus meetings where he simply tells us his position and that if we don’t agree with him then we don’t have the resolve needed for the job.”
Holder said he can “no longer serve in a Cabinet under Blaine Higgs,” though he said he will continue as the MLA for Portland-Simonds.
“We need to build a thoughtful, conservative movement in this province that brings people together rather than divide them,” he said.
Reached by email Friday morning, Holder said he would not comment further. Global News has contacted Higgs’ office for comment.
In a statement on “party politics and speculation of a leadership review” posted to social media Thursday, Higgs dismissed the dissidents as a “certain group” who have been seeking a leadership review since the party’s last general meeting.
“The interest has obviously heightened as a result of the recent changes to Policy 713,” Higgs said.
“The vast majority of caucus clearly supported the need for parents to be directly involved in all aspects of raising their children, especially in their formative elementary years,” said the statement.
“This is about creating safe spaces where all students feel welcome and included and we can do that while still respecting the role of parents.”
Other resignations
Holder is the second cabinet minister to resign since the changes to Policy 713 were announced, and the fourth since 2020.
Last week, former social development minister Dorothy Shephard resigned from cabinet, saying in a two-sentence letter that she could no longer remain in Higgs’ cabinet.
Shephard told reporters that her resignation wasn’t only due to Policy 713, but because there “is no process.”
“Cabinet and caucus are routinely dismissed. I have been struggling with this since October of 2021. I have had colleagues and friends encourage me to stay in the inner circle to do the best I can do. I feel I’ve done that. But I’ve run out of runway,” she said at the time.
“There’s no accomplishing anything more in this cabinet. So I’m ready to leave.”
In a letter from October 2021 — well before the Policy 713 controversy began — Shephard wrote a letter to Higgs waning that his management style threatened to “destroy” his government.
“There is so much you can accomplish but you are the biggest impediment to getting it done,” she wrote in the letter which was provided to Global News earlier this week.
Many of Shephard’s concerns mirrored those of former education minister Dominic Cardy who resigned from cabinet in October 2022. Cardy wrote in his resignation letter that his exit was due to his “values and working styles increasingly diverging” from that of the premier.
In 2020, former deputy premier Robert Gauvin also resigned from cabinet over health-care reforms.
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‘Real showdown’
Jason Stephen, another past PC party president, said he will no longer be involved with the party if Higgs remains leader. Stephen has been involved with the party for 33 years.
“I’m finding that the party is drifting away from my values and the PC party that I grew up in was a team-based approach that focused on positive things: growth, opportunity, hope for our province. And I’m just not seeing that in our path forward,” Stephen said.
He added that he believes now is the time to protect Higgs’ “legacy of the good things he’s done,” and “pass the torch” in terms of leadership.
J.P. Lewis, a political science professor from the University of New Brunswick, said recent developments are leading to something “we didn’t expect about a month ago.”
“(It) could be pushing the premier to resign or a real showdown between whoever might be vying to be the next leader of the party,” said Lewis.
He said Higgs can react right now with a cabinet shuffle, and has “some plays in the playbook” but admits there is a lot of pressure on the premier and one big question remains: is there anyone willing, ready and able to take over?
“Is there someone out there who’s clearly ready to challenge to be the premier?” he said.
“What’s next for the party? What’s next for the leadership of the party if this continues?”
— with files from The Canadian Press, Global News’ Silas Brown, and Nathalie Sturgeon.
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