N.B. Liberal leader on defensive, says Bathurst residents are 'differently educated'

FREDERICTON -

New Brunswick's Liberal leader is on the defensive for comments she made on a podcast months ago that her opponents charge make northern residents in the Bathurst area seem uneducated.

In January, Susan Holt told the True North Eager Beaver Podcast that the province is diverse and her party can't have one-size-fits-all policies. However, she said, there are certain issues on which her caucus must stay united "regardless of the price they might pay in their communities."

She was referring to a controversial change the Blaine Higgs government made to Policy 713 -- rules around how transgender children can be referred to at school. In 2023 the Progressive Conservatives required teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred first names and pronouns of children under 16 -- a policy that was criticized around the country but one that remains popular in the province, according to polling.

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"I'm in urban Fredericton. It's a, you know, really progressive people here, highly educated and my riding of Bathurst East-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore has (a) totally different makeup."

But when it comes to Policy 713, she said, "it was clear for everyone, regardless of the price they might pay in their communities, that the right thing to do is to defend vulnerable kids and to support children's rights."

The Progressive Conservatives seized on those comments, saying in a new campaign ad that the Liberal leader is accusing Bathurst residents of not being smart enough to see the problem with Higgs's policy on gender.

"The Liberal leader even said that the people of Bathurst, my hometown, lack education," Kim Chamberlain, the Tory candidate running for Bathurst, said in the advertisement in French.

On Tuesday, Holt defended her comments at a news conference, saying the people in the Bathurst area are "differently educated."

She noted the diversity of the region, including the various occupations people hold such as farming, fishing, mining and logging.

"It's one of the reasons I was really excited to go and represent (Bathurst), because of the diversity of people and the work they do and the way that they live," she said. Holt won that riding in a byelection in 2023 but is running in Fredericton South-Silverwood for the Oct. 21 election.

"You have folks who have PhDs, and you have folks who completed school before the end of high school. There's a real diversity in educational attainment of the folks up there, and there's a real diversity in what they learned from the school of hard knocks and being out on the land and on the water."

The Liberals have promised to reverse the changes to Policy 713 if elected, and permit teachers to use the preferred first names and pronouns of students without asking their parents for permission.

Meanwhile, the Green Party released its platform Wednesday, focusing on health care, housing, cost of living and climate change.

"We have a plan, and it's backed up by the generational investment we need to make to save our health-care system," said David Coon, leader of the Greens.

"Under a Green government, access to primary health care will become a right, just as access to public education is a right. No more waiting lists. Our election platform lays out our vision for the future of New Brunswick and provides a practical affordable road map to get there."

Higgs, who is running for a third term in office, was scheduled to visit a paper company in Edmundston for a photo opportunity.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

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