​N.B. – Time to move from “I” to “we.”

On February 3, 2022, the day after Gound Hog, the day when we traditionally look into the future to see how the weather will change, I wrote the following note to myself:

“As New Brunswick moves beyond the pandemic, the province needs new and far-sighted leadership. It needs to move beyond the current approach of paternalism, of “decisions for” to “decisions with.”

“There needs to be a new respect for the diversity of the province, including Acadian equality which has always been a vibrant part of the New Brunswick identity…respect for the First Nations…and the realities of newcomers and new immigrants.

‘Above all, the province needs new leadership which encourages the voice and participation of citizens, and not looking to muffle and overrule them.

“There needs to be a new readiness to harness the latest ideas…approaches to mental health, homelessness, food insecurity…improving emergency, primary and general hospital services, and long-term care…seeking quality education at all levels… and entrepreneurship as the engine of our economy.

“Several candidates have already declared themselves for the Liberal leadership. Now is the time for citizens to get involved in one of the campaigns, seek out fresh ideas and rekindle enthusiasm in the province, post-Covid.”

Today, 34 months later, this writer would not change much in this note to myself. The above observation was made prior to the start-up a little over one year ago of the Against the Flow blog. In these columns I undertook to express strong opinions but without a purely partisan flavor.

Also, given the storms, floods, winds, drought, and forest fires that we have seen over the last few years in Atlantic Canada, the country, and on planet Earth, I would make much greater emphasis today on the importance of combating climate change.
 
Another major concern I would express more loudly is the state of our free press, long stifled by ownership concentration, and by social media sucking out the revenue needed for our precious local media. I will return to this major issue on another day.

Today, I believe the leadership of Premier Blaine Higgs that I found backward and stifling in early 2022, continues as a major obstacle to our health and growth as a province. In fact, I am even more concerned now about the leadership of Premier Higgs.

What are the main problems with Mr. Higgs’ leadership?

A captain of New Brunswick industry, who I have interviewed, has described Mr. Higgs as someone who, when he settles on a position or an opinion, rarely, if ever, will change his mind or listen to others around him. Dynamic, compassionate, courageous, and listening leadership is a good thing, but leadership with the blinders on is not.

As noted in this space previously, as of April 13, 11 PC MLAs had either resigned or decided not to run in this fall’s provincial election. All this ties back to what the highly respected Tory Cabinet Minister, Trevor Holder, said in his resignation letter, that the PC caucus has been “less about consensus and more about (Higgs) getting his own way.”

Mr. Higgs obviously has his good points. Given the pressures he has been under in recent years, he has shown himself to be redoubtable. He has managed the finances of the province strongly, but unfortunately, he has starved to the breaking point areas such as education and health, and even our roads.

So, who is the leading candidate to replace Mr. Higgs as Premier and why?

I realize I am not infallible, but for me the answer is Susan Holt.

Ms. Holt, the Leader of the Liberal Party, is the opposite of Blaine Higgs, she listens carefully to her colleague MLAs, and to New Brunswickers in general.

She would bring newness and freshness to the office of the Premier. She does not pretend to have all the answers herself: she is the leader of a team and has spent much of her time as Leader of the Liberal Party touring the province and learning about the chief concerns of her fellow citizens.

She has focused on primary health care as the number one concern of New Brunswickers. As Dr. Paula Keating, the president of the N.B. Medical Society, said in August, 180,000 people in the province do not have access to a primary care practitioner, i.e., a family doctor or a nurse practitioner. Thus, hospital emergency rooms are being flooded with patients who are ailing but who don’t necessarily have an emergency condition such as acute appendicitis, or a compound fracture, let alone a gunshot wound.

Holt is promising “at least” 30 collaborative health care clinics to be put in place before 2028, each with a variety of health professionals from nurses, nurse practitioners, family doctors, to mental health therapists, equipped to address a variety of health needs.

Ms. Holt has also shown courage in calling for the resumption of research into New Brunswick’s “Mystery Disease” which has been prematurely shut down by the Higgs government. This neurological disorder has affected people of all ages and has been linked to such serious conditions as Parkinson’s. Environmental causes are strongly suspected.

Susan Holt is not the only effective and promising political leader in New Brunswick. David Coon, the Green Party leader is the master of the devasting political quip. When Higgs appointed Steve Outhouse as a member of his Premier’s Office staff while also the PC campaign manager, Mr. Coon offered: “It’s extraordinary…they’ve turned the Premier’s Office into his (Higgs’) election campaign headquarters.”

Coon is a passionate defender of the environment, and staunch opponent of climate change. When Jim Irving, co-CEO of JD Irving Ltd. appeared before a legislature committee, Coon showed fortitude in, rightfully, questioning Mr. Irving on the use of using the defoliant, glyphosate, in the company’s forestry operations. This does not mean Coon was drawing conclusions, he was doing his job as an elected official and seeking answers.

Coon’s great problem for the current provincial election is that his party’s representation in the legislature stands at just three, its highest total to date, and the Greens have precious little chance of governing the province on their own.

By contrast, even Premier Higgs acknowledged in the Telegraph Journal on Oct. 12, that the only real threat he faces to his hold on the reins of power comes from Susan Holt’s Liberals.
Holt has wisely recognized that contemplating now any form of coalition with the Greens could increase the potential, in a close election, to divide the opposition to Premier Higgs’ PCs in what is expected to be a close election.
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As for Premier Higgs, he said a few days ago that his political career would have been a waste if he does not win again. As is normally the case, Mr. Higgs’ central view of politics is about himself. It is time for the province to move beyond “me” politics to “we.” In my opinion, the choice is stark and clear.