​The Rivets Pop Out of Higgs’ Shining Armour

In February, this Against the Flow blog, argued that Premier Blaine Higgs saw himself as the Knight in shining armour who had ridden his white stallion in to rid New Brunswick of old-style politics. He saw politics as a dirty business best left to old-style politicians obsessed with getting elected. Our Premier was above all that.
 
But now, the rivets have popped out of the Premier’s shining armour, altogether.
 
Premier Higgs has shown that he is the most political New Brunswick Premier ever. Shockingly, Mr. Higgs has appointed the Progressive Conservative campaign manager, Steve Outhouse to also be the Principal Secretary in the Premier’s government office.
 
According to the Premiers spokesperson, Nicolle Carlin, Outhouse will be paid up to $124,656 for his Principal Secretary role. The exact total of his pay for his Party/Campaign roles is not yet clear. Suffice to say, Outhouse is a hired gun who will not be working for peanuts. He also appears to have a blind spot for ethics, saying he will continue his party role in his “off-work time” while Principal Secretary for Higgs.
 
New Brunswickers can be sure that Mr. Outhouse will release his telephone records, both land line and cellular, so they can verify that he never makes party calls on ‘government time’…

Green Party Leader David Coon told the CBC: “It’s extraordinary…They’re turning the premier’s office into his campaign headquarters.”
 
Outhouse has aligned himself with right-wing causes, including Danielle Smith’s winning election campaign in Alberta and two strong showings by MP Lesly Lewin for the national leadership of the Conservative Party.
 
Premier Higgs has increasingly been going outside the province to raise money and attract right wing supporters, including the Christian Conservative, Faytene Garsseschi , handpicked by Higgs and acclaimed for the Conservative nomination s in the provincial riding of Hampton-Fundy-St. Martins.
 
With this, Higgs once again portrayed himself as taking the “opportunity to change the face of politics.”
 
Higgs has certainly been changing the face of New Brunswick politics, but not for the better. Proving himself to be a political leader who does not listen to, or consult with, his own political associates, the Premier now has had 11 PC MLAs elected in the 2020 election decide to resign or not run in the fall’s provincial election. The latest is the Health Minister, Bruce Fitch, an MLA for 21 years, who announced 10 days ago he is not going to seek re-election.
 
In a desperate effort to divide the province to his advantage in and election, Premier Higgs and some of his remaining cabinet ministers have chosen several issues such as parental rights, sex education in the schools, forced rehabilitation of persons with addictions, Indigenous land claims and linguistic rights in officially bilingual New Brunswick, as ways to set citizens against each other. Premier Higgs style of governing is increasingly dangerous.
 
Over the last 60+ years, New Brunswick has benefitted from having at least three great Premiers: Louis Robichaud (1960-1970) Richard Hatfield (1970-1987) and Frank McKenna (1987-1997). Their legacies were ones of unification not division.
 
Unless Blaine Higgs changes his ways, he will not be remembered as one of the province’s great Premiers.