New Brunswick premier open to leadership test, remains vague on early election call

FREDERICTON -

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said Friday he is open to a party vote on his leadership, but remained vague on whether he'll call an early provincial election.

Higgs is facing a rising wave of dissent from his caucus over his leadership style and his government's changes to the province's policy on sexual orientation in schools. On Thursday, Dorothy Shephard quit as social development minister, and last week, eight Progressive Conservative dissidents -- including Shephard and five other ministers -- sat out question period in protest.

Asked what the odds were of the province heading into an early election, Higgs told reporters, "I don't play the odds, actually. I don't. So, I'm not going to delve into an election philosophy." His majority government's mandate ends in October 2024.

The controversy erupted June 8 after Education Minister Bill Hogan introduced changes to Policy 713, which sets out standards for schools to ensure welcoming and inclusive environments for LGBTQ students. Among the changes is a new requirement for teachers to obtain parental consent before they use the preferred pronouns and names of transgender and nonbinary students under the age of 16.

LGBTQ advocates have said the policy violates the rights of children, but Higgs has said the changes ensure parents are kept informed about issues affecting their kids.

On Thursday, Shephard resigned from Higgs' cabinet and voted with the Opposition on a motion calling on the province's youth and child advocate to review the changes to the LGBTQ policy. Five other members of Higgs' party voted with Shephard: ministers Jeff Carr, Daniel Allain and Trevor Holder, and backbenchers Ross Wetmore and Andrea Anderson-Mason. The Tory rebels caused the motion to pass 26-20.

Higgs defended the revised Policy 713 Friday, saying he is standing up for parents and if doing so requires a leadership review then so be it.

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

But Shephard said it wasn't just changes made to Policy 713 that made her quit.

"I resigned because there is no process. Cabinet and caucus are routinely dismissed," she told reporters Thursday. "I have been struggling with this since October of 2021."

J.P. Lewis, political science professor at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John, said Higgs' leadership style is under the microscope now that Shephard has left cabinet.

But she is the second minister to quit his cabinet in protest since October, when Dominic Cardy resigned as education minister and wrote a letter calling out the premier's "wrecking-ball" leadership style.

While Shephard did not send such a letter, Lewis said her comments with reporters "fitted with Cardy's viewpoint." Her public resignation, he said, which she made on the floor of the legislature, was "quite remarkable."

"It was easy to kind of see Cardy's resignation as possibly a one-off he had mentioned that others would agree with him, but it was a matter of waiting to see if there's other folks in cabinet who think that the way that Higgs leads is problematic," he said.

"The Policy 713 issue really brought everything to a head. It was a bit surprising, to be honest."

Lewis said it's unclear whether more members of Higgs' government will resign.

"I think right now, we're in a position where are there other shoes that drop, other dominoes to fall? Because there is the possibility that this is it. This was the small revolt Higgs experienced. Even though it's rare, it happens."

Higgs might be led to call an election if more members of his party resign, or if he wants to solidify his position as head of the province's Progressive Conservatives.

"We're definitely closer to an early election than we would have been a couple of weeks ago, that's for sure," Lewis said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2023.

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