Blaine Higgs drops 2 rebellious ministers in cabinet shuffle

Premier Blaine Higgs has reasserted his authority over his fractured Progressive Conservative government by dumping two ministers who voted against him on the contentious issue of New Brunswick's school gender-identity policy.

In a cabinet shuffle Tuesday, Higgs dropped Local Government Minister Daniel Allain and Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Jeff Carr, sending them to the backbenches.

He made it clear that their breaking ranks in a key vote on Policy 713 had cost them their jobs, violating the principle of cabinet solidarity.

"To go outside of that and to basically feel that it doesn't matter if you're in cabinet or not — it does matter. And to not address the situation is really putting the government in a very vulnerable position," Higgs told reporters after a 9 a.m. swearing-in.

"We have to respect the parliamentary system that we're in, the sanctity of cabinet, and the fact we'll have very frank and open discussion in cabinet or in caucus, but in cabinet you have to have solidarity." 

The new additions to cabinet are Carleton-York MLA Richard Ames, Moncton South MLA Greg Turner and St. Croix MLA Kathy Bockus. All are first-timers as ministers. 

Rejoining cabinet are Moncton Southwest MLA Sherry Wilson, who was in cabinet from 2018 to 2020, and Oromocto-Lincoln-Fredericton MLA Mary Wilson, who was shuffled out of cabinet last fall.

Allain and Carr make four ministers no longer in Higgs's cabinet.

The two other ministers, Dorothy Shephard and Trevor Holder, resigned, both of them citing Higgs's leadership style that they said was at odds with the values and traditions of the PC party.

All four voted with the opposition parties on June 15 to help pass a Liberal motion calling for more consultations on Policy 713, which sets out protections for LGBTQ students in provincial schools.

Higgs claimed that day that the vote was not whipped, meaning his caucus was free to vote the way they wanted. 

In the past, the premier has often tolerated minor acts of dissent in his cabinet and caucus, referring to it as "a diverse group" that has pushed the envelope the same way he did when he was the outspoken finance minister in the Alward government. 

But on Policy 713 Higgs has signalled he was losing patience.

"To take a position against the government in the legislature, voting in the legislature, is very significant," he said Tuesday.