A majority of New Brunswick Progressive Conservative riding association presidents have submitted documents to initiate a leadership review, citing concerns about the damage Premier Blaine Higgs is doing to the party by “remaining leader.”
Global News obtained a letter confirming 26 of 46 current riding presidents were moving ahead with the review, which could force Higgs out.
“We feel it is necessary given his leadership style that ignores party membership — there has not been a single party policy conference since he became leader in 2016 — a style that regularly does not consult with caucus or cabinet on key decisions and that does not take the advice of the province’s civil service,” the letter reads.
The letter alleges if Higgs has a personal goal on any issue, he imposes it on the province, “despite significant, sometimes almost unanimous opposition and discomfort.”
“The Premier would have you believe this is solely about one policy. Not true,” the letter goes on to say.
“This is about a pattern of autocratic leadership over the past three years that has resulted in serious missteps and the undermining of New Brunswickers’ confidence in the Progressive Conservative government.”
It cites the abandoned changes to abolish French immersion, the health reforms from 2020 that would have forced the closure of rural ERs overnight — a controversy that saw former Sussex Fundy St. Martins MLA Bruce Northrup vote against the government and Robert Gauvin cross the floor — eliminating elected members from the regional health authority boards, and an attempt to strip powers from anglophone school district education councils.
The letter also said there has been condescension and neglect on the part of Indigenous and Francophone people.
It calls out the most recent resignation of two high-profile PC MLAs Dorothy Shephard and Trevor Holder from cabinet and the firing of two others: Daniel Allain and Jeff Carr.
Higgs’ decision to review and make changes to the province’s LGBTQ2 school policy, known as Policy 713, has also led to widespread criticism and caucus revolt.
“It’s enough. We can no longer sit by and watch our party erode without taking action,” the letter states. “It is time for the premier to go, and he is showing no signs of recognizing this.”
Marc Savoie, who is the riding association president for Moncton East, said the premier has done good things — citing his good fiscal management and the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic — but Savoie said he’s overstayed his welcome.
“We feel he’s leading us in the wrong direction. He’s making decisions that are based on his own personal beliefs, not the party philosophy, not the party reason of being. So we feel it’s time for him to step aside,” Savoie said.
The party has concerns over his ability to lead them to another victory.
“We feel the longer he waits, the more harm he does to the province and to our party,” he said.
Savoie also said what he witnessed personally at a provincial council meeting of the PCNB on Saturday had him feeling disrespected.
“I want to make it clear that the premier that we see on TV is not the premier that we witnessed last weekend. Those were not the words and actions of somebody that I want leading me, not just in our party (but) our province,” he said of his personal feelings on a speech given by the premier on June 24.
Jamie Gillies, a political scientist from St. Thomas University, said the significance of the riding presidents moving forward shouldn’t be understated.
“I think the riding president’s letter is shocking,” he said. “Just a damning indictment of the premier’s leadership.”
He said the letter signals a massive internal battle within the party.
“That erosion of trust becomes really difficult for a political party to function going into an election,” he said. “When parties are divided like this it become really difficult to do the hard work that is required to get out the vote, to get good candidates in ridings.”
Gillies think the organizers of the review are realizing the problem isn’t the party, but rather it’s leader who has fallen out of favour — both internally and possibly with voters.
He took note of the use of the word autocratic in the statement. Gillies said it shows the internal struggle over policy decisions have existed since the last election.
In fact, the statement indicated there hadn’t been a policy conference since Higgs became leader in 2016.
Both MLA Jeff Carr and the statement referred to reforms that were ultimately axed in 2020 that would have forced the closure of six rural ERs.
It led to Robert Gauvin crossing the floor to the Liberals and former Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins MLA Bruce Northrup voting against government, ultimately offering not reoffer in the October 2020 election.
“The problem then becomes if Higgs is going try to make this a referendum on his leadership that could potentially be a disaster for the PC party,” Gillies said.
Premier Blaine Higgs said he wasn’t surprised by the submission of documents, once again claiming the review is motivated by the changes to Policy 713, for which the riding presidents have adamantly denied.
“The process leading to a leadership review is long and detailed,” he said in an email statement/ “In the meantime, I will continue to focus on the priorities of our province and acting in the best interests of all New Brunswickers.”
Savoie said the riding presidents did ask for an emergency meeting to be called in July, but was denied, and they now wait for a response from the party association on their ask for a leadership review.
PC Party President Erika Hachey did not respond to a request for comment from Global News on Thursday.
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