'It's been really dehumanizing': Calls grow for leadership review of Blaine Higgs after Policy 713 changes

From musings about an early provincial election to calls for a leadership review, Policy 713 changes have prompted turbulence in New Brunswick politics. But for Nicki Lyons-MacFarlane, it’s much more personal.

“It has been incredibly stressful and incredibly difficult hearing trans rights being debated by our politicians,” said Lyons-MacFarlane. “It’s been really dehumanizing as well.”

“Our lives and what we’re going through every day is a topic of debate. Hearing this right-wing rhetoric being expressed by our premier has been incredibly difficult.”

Lyons-MacFarlane, chair of Imperative Youth Association in Fredericton, said weeks of coverage and discussions about Policy 713 have been exhausting. They said a snap provincial election would only elevate that.

“The majority should not decide our rights,” said Lyons-MacFarlane. “Right now our rights are being debated by cis, straight people. They shouldn’t be deciding what our rights are. We should be involved in the conversation.”

Premier Blaine Higgs has repeatedly pondered in recent days if his Progressive Conservative party dissent over Policy 713 changes would prompt a provincial election. Higgs was more coy on Friday when asked during a reporter’s scrum what the odds were of the province heading into an early election.

"I don't play the odds, actually. I don't,” said Higgs. “So, I'm not going to delve into an election philosophy."

Under recent changes to Policy 713, students under 16 will now need parental consent to change their name or pronouns at school. Additionally, universal washrooms must be private.

Furthermore, the policy on sports no longer states students can participant on teams "consistent with their gender identity."

Jean-Pierre Ouellet, a former minister in Richard Hatfield’s PC government and a party riding district association president, called for Higgs to face a party leadership review this week in a social media post, referencing controversies with the Official Languages Act, French Immersion, and health care.

Higgs said he was open to a party review of his leadership.

"If this issue has brought this to a head, I'm equally confident that I'm speaking for many parents who want a voice," said Higgs to reporters on Friday. "If that is necessitating a leadership review, I guess it'll be what it'll be."

When Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard resigned from cabinet on Thursday, she said the decision wasn’t only about changes to Policy 713 but her overall concerns about Higgs’ leadership style since October 2021.

"I resigned because there is no process,” said Shephard. “Cabinet and caucus are routinely dismissed.”

Jamie Gillies, the coordinator of St. Thomas University’s communications and public policy program in Fredericton, said it’s not certain if Policy 713 would be the definitive campaign theme in a snap provincial election.

Gillies said the added development of eight Tory MLAs who have signalled dissatisfaction and the loss of two government votes in the legislature show “a party divided.”

“To call an election when there’s that much uncertainty within your own ranks strikes me as really rolling the dice with no idea how it might end up,” said Gillies. “Maybe Higgs is thinking on that issue alone of parental rights, there’s support out there. But I think an election campaign would not be focused on that. The opposition would make it about incoherent and incompetent leadership.”

The changes to Policy 713 are set to take effect July 1.

With files from Hina Alam of the Canadian Press and Bill Dicks of CTV Atlantic.