Methinks a lot of my political foes know why I am gonna enjoy this circus N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/greg-thompson-john-ames-birch-forest-road-1.4647728

Road feud raises questions about Tory veteran's political comeback

Greg Thompson says his return to politics not motivated by spat with province over private road

Jacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: May 04, 2018 5:00 AM AT

38 Comments 

Commenting is now closed for this story.

 

 
David Amos

Methinks a lot of my political foes know why I am gonna enjoy this circus N'esy Pas?

maude windsor

@David Amos about your french translation...should it not be ne est pas???

David Amos

@maude windsor Nope

David Amos

"The Birch Forest Road residents also hired Moncton lawyer Mike Murphy, a former Liberal minister whose spouse is now a PC election candidate, to sue the province to force it to take over the road. But Murphy said in an email he was instructed to drop the case before Thompson announced he was running for office. No lawsuit was ever filed."

Methinks that folks are entitled to know why my coffee came out my nose when I read that N'esy Pas?

Please read the info I provided long ago under this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vugUalUO8YY

"WITHOUT PREJUDICE" ??? YEA RIGHT

 
Matt Steele

I would think that it is fairly common for folks to become involved in politics after being mistreated , or lied to , by government officials ; so I would not blame Thompson if this was his motivation for returning to politics . It sounds like District Engineer Alan Kerr provided the wrong information and requirements for the road , and then MLA John Ames got caught in the middle of the dispute after the upgrades were completed , and then rejected by govt. . This is a prime example why civil servants need to be hired based on competence , and not on who they know .

David Amos

@Matt Steele Methinks Mr Thompson is all about Mr Thompson's interests. Its not fair of you to attack Alan Kerr as he protects our interests N'esy Pas?

 
Samuel Porter

So he's running to help himself. Sounds like a normal politician to me.

David Amos

@Samuel Porter Methinks we should not expect anything less from Mr. Thompson N'esy Pas?

 
Gerry Ferguson

Greg Thompson is a well-respected former federal cabinet minister who will have no difficulty winning this riding in the fall.

Samuel Porter

@Gerry Ferguson By who?

Samuel Porter

@Gerry Ferguson I remember him crossing the road to avoid talking to picketers during the telco strike of 2004, Telcos are federal jurisdiction. He could of at least offered some support.

David Amos

@Samuel Porter I remember him having me falsely arrested in 2008

  
Roland Godin

And meanwhile hundreds of B$ are wasted in administration cost, mostly for political capital, by municipalities, provinces and federal in stepping on each other’s projects, programs and services...et voilà.

David Amos

@Roland Godin Methinks Mr Kerr saved us some money by merely obeying the rules N'esy Pas?

 

Roland Godin

@David Amos
A shared 3M$ federal, provincial, municipal project adding their 1M$ administration fees, your cost et la mienne 4M$...et voilà.

David Amos

@Roland Godin Methinks you should check what this is costing you N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/twinning-route-11-1.4605144

Route 11 twinning gets $180M in federal, provincial money
About 20 kilometres of the eastern New Brunswick highway to be twinned, starting this summer
Philip Drost · CBC News · Posted: Apr 04, 2018 6:39 PM AT

maude windsor

@Roland Godin ..think about fact new brunswick has fewer residents in the entire province than most of canada's cities! on top of that new brunswick tries to run this province as if it were two provinces...with expensive duplicates not needed by anyone.----then look at amount of revenue NB gets from 'equalization transfers' from ottawa (amount of which is caculated only once per person----not the fact of 2X services)...equalization about 2,300/person. then of course new brunswick has mimaq&maliseet wanderers of lore,not settlers..eating up transfer monies. southern new brunswick should be its own province or go back to being part of nova scotia....
then taxes & transfer monies would keep new brunswick a rich part of canada.
this is not a political tirade...it is the truth and not said by political interference....but shows we in southern new brunswick need to get together and save this land from destruction from lack of taxation directed to southern new brunswick and thus lack of real economic development......look back then move forward together...even if this causes the BNA/constitution to be opened to allow enterprise of new brunswick/new ireland,loyalists/roving indigenous...etc. God Save southern New Brunswick !!!!!
(current politicians will not do so)

Roland Godin

@maude windsor
Duplication of whatever’s for your official language is costing to much, if you say so...et voilà.

David Amos

@maude windsor "this is not a political tirade"

Yea Right

Methinks the lady doth protest too much N'esy Pas?

  
Sean Onuaillain

The Higgs/Alward government had a policy of getting out of maintaining rural roads with few people living on them...If both Higgs and Thompson win in September and this road gets turned over to the province it will be a case of political back scratching winning over common sense. And we will all pay for the maintenance of this road. And we can't seem to look after existing roads, so we don't need to add new ones.
And what it is it with these old, pensioned off MPs looking for a retirement gig in the NB Legislature? Our problems are not going to be resolved by rehiring the people who have failed to do so in the past.
About every two or three weeks Poitras or the TJ releases some word of wisdom from Frank McKenna, who hasn't lived in NB for decades. Frankie talked a good game but we now have the benefit of history. Look at the economic development, employment and debt ratios during his time in office. Same old same old. Call centres and doing whatever the McCain's and Irving's wanted done.
New ideas and people are need to get us out of this mess.

Samuel Porter

@Sean Onuaillain Double dippers of the worst kind. Let some one who needs the job run. No more old boy clubbers.

David Amos

@Sean Onuaillain "About every two or three weeks Poitras or the TJ releases some word of wisdom from Frank McKenna, who hasn't lived in NB for decades. Frankie talked a good game but we now have the benefit of history. Look at the economic development, employment and debt ratios during his time in office. Same old same old. Call centres and doing whatever the McCain's and Irving's wanted done."

Methinks you may enjoy a couple letters I wrote to Franky By McKenna after I ran in the election of the 38th Parliament in the riding where he grew up and I operated a business within. Take careful notice who acknowledge the first letter. They can be found near the bottom of this small 27 page pdf file.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/2718120/integrity-yea-right

  
John Haigh

Ames is such a burnout it's ridiculous.

David Amos

@John Haigh Methinks Johnny Boy got elected because of who his Lawyer/Daddy is and his name sounds a lot like mine N'esy Pas?

 
William Roberts

Why do we bother to have elections in this province? To decide between Tweedledee and Tweedledum?
Why not just forgo the cost, inconvenience and deception and just let Irving appoint provincial managers? The change would be barely noticeable.

David Amos

@William Roberts Tweedledee and Tweedledum???

Methinks you should ask yourself why I ran for public office five times as an Independent while nearly everybody laughed at me N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

 
Chuck Michaels

So what if it is? He doesn't like the lack of action so he is doing something about it.

Everyone has a tipping point at which they are motivated into action. I would toss my hat in the ring in a heartbeat as a candidate for the Libertarian Party if they ran a nomination for my riding. I like to think I'd have a pretty good chance against what we have here now.

Tired of waffling back and forth between red and blue in this country and sinking deeper and deeper into dept, despair (and soon DOPE).

David Amos

@Chuck Michaels Methinks its relatively easy to run as an Independent without the blessings of any political boss. All you need is a bunch of signatures from the folks in the riding who agree with your right to run for public office N'esy Pas?

Redmond O'Hanlon

More typical politicians, in it for what they can get for themselves at the taxpayers expense, whether it be a political favor or getting re-elected.

David Amos

@Redmond O'Hanlon Methinks plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose N'esy Pas?

 
Jason Inness

So, let's get this straight, the PC candidate gave an endorsement to Ames after he and Bill Fraser gave him a promise. He went so far as to write an endorsement letter. Since this personal favour has not happened, he is now saying that Ames is not a good MLA. It seems to me that the Liberals and PCs are all the same, and all they really want is to dole out patronage and use tax dollars to benefit themselves. Thompson (whom I once respected) can say what he wants, but this really seems to be a bunch of old style politicians having a spat in public, that usually would happen outside of the public eye.

David Amos

@Jason Inness Methinks you got it straight but you gotta love the fact that it is in the public eye this time N'esy Pas?

  

maude windsor

thompson is proven excellent politician. as to Birch Road...what is funny is fact that in the history of new brunswick residents all built and kept up all the roads near their lands----NB would not have developed economically if these networks of roads had not been built----it is a historical fact that NB emigrants were not of the mind to rely on government for anything..least of all roads. government stimies development is our history!! remember scots/irish, scots, loyalists,irish famine peoples had a strong dose of what government is capable of ...before they came to new brunswick.

David Amos

@maude windsor "thompson is proven excellent politician"

Methinks I should thank you for the comic relief Thompson has been a part of the Harper government the same dude who called us defeatists now he wants back on the gravy train because his liberal buddies did not honour a backroom deal N'esy Pas?

"government stimies development is our history!! remember scots/irish, scots, loyalists,irish famine peoples had a strong dose of what government is capable of ...before they came to new brunswick."

Sean Onuaillain

@maude windsor

Are you talking about wagon trails pulling boats along the rivers or something? Roads made with chipseal and asphalt were built by governments.

And please let me know what history book you have read to lead you to the conclusion that government played no part in our development. As they are historically inaccurate.

Samuel Porter

@maude windsor Proven expert politician? I wouldn't be bragging bout that.

 
Daniel White

This is what happens when you have no development plan upfront ,Mr Thompson. Sure build where you want, on any dirt road , but don't expect taxpayers to come good for your lack of foresight. If developers have to pay for a proper job, planned and done by professionals, then why shouldn't you. Your attitude and decision to run because of this matter is explicitly self serving, in your own words. Maybe learn to drive a grader or something worthwhile, for your road. Your are returning to politics for all the wrong reasons and I hope the electorate see you as such.

David Amos

@Daniel White Well Put Sir

Road feud raises questions about Tory veteran's political comeback

Greg Thompson says his return to politics not motivated by spat with province over private road

Jacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: May 04, 2018 5:00 AM AT

Greg Thompson will be nominated as the St. Croix riding PC candidate. He said he's motivated by local issues and not a spat with the government over his private road. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

A former Conservative MP attempting a political comeback in this fall's provincial election says his main motivation is not a feud with the Liberal government over its refusal to take over maintenance of the private road he lives on.

But Greg Thompson acknowledges that his frustration with incumbent Liberal MLA John Ames over the issue was "running in the back of my mind" when he decided to run against Ames as a Progressive Conservative.

Birch Forest Road residents felt they met the requirements to have the province take over the private road. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

In March 2017, Thompson and fellow residents of Birch Forest Road in Bayside thought they had persuaded the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to turn the private road into a public road if residents upgraded it first.

But in the end, despite the upgrades, the department refused to do it.

In an interview with CBC News in St. Andrews, the veteran Tory politician insisted he's not running to punish Ames for that — despite accusing Ames of breaking a promise he made about the road.

Thompson said he's motivated by other issues, including what he calls Ames' failure to save the St. Stephen courthouse and to champion the Charlotte County Hospital.

Thompson said his return to politics would be to champion the Charlotte County Hospital. (Cherise Letson/CBC)

• 'Time was of the essence': Court rejects bid to save Charlotte courts

• Charlotte County Hospital's OR needs staff, group says

In a subsequent telephone interview, however, Thompson said the road issue contributed to his conclusion that Ames is an ineffective MLA.

"There would be a connection in the sense of his inability to back up a commitment he made," Thompson said. "It's more a reflection of his weakness in Fredericton."

Ames responded: "Isn't that unfortunate we have someone running for politics for personal reasons."

Thompson endorsed Ames

Thompson is a former six-term MP. He sat in the House of Commons from 1988 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2011, and was veterans affairs minister for four years in the Harper Conservative government.
He'll be nominated Saturday as the PC candidate in the St. Croix riding.

Despite his deep Tory ties, Thompson wrote a public letter last June praising Ames, a first-term Liberal MLA.

"I am very proud to have you as my MLA and without hesitation or reservation want you to know that I will be voting for you in the next election," Thompson wrote in a letter read at the June 22, 2017, Liberal nominating convention in St. Croix.

Tourism Minister John Ames was endorsed by Thompson last June. (CBC)

Ames pointed out that both the courthouse and hospital issues Thompson is raising now "were long, long discussed before he wrote that letter."

Thompson's endorsement came three months after a March 25 breakfast meeting at the Algonquin Resort, where Thompson said Ames and Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Bill Fraser made the promise. "They didn't invite me down there to say no," he said.

Thompson said the road commitment did not lead to his glowing endorsement of Ames in June. "I meant it at the time," he said, "but the erosion of that support was something he brought on himself, not me."

Thompson also said if elected as a PC MLA in a PC government, he would not use his position to get his road taken over. "It's not on my agenda, if you will," he said.

Liberals say they made no promises

Both Ames and Fraser say they don't make promises about roads without consulting staff. "I don't make any commitments to anything unless it's a sure thing," Ames said in an interview.

Ames refused to discuss Birch Forest Road specifically, but said he often gets requests about private roads and he always points residents to the provincial standards that must be met.

An aerial view of Birch Forest Road in the St. Croix riding. (Google Maps)

He said he's never encountered a case in his time as MLA where the specifications were met and the province took over a road.

Fraser said he follows the recommendations of staff engineers on road issues. "I'm not an engineer, so I don't have the expertise to make those decisions," he said. "Any of these technical decisions would be based on a technical process, not based on politics."

A document summary obtained by CBC News shows that DTI staff visited the road last Aug. 2. Thompson says they agreed the required upgrades had been done and would recommend the province take over the road.

The province has a 75-page document detailing the minimum standards required for the province to take over a private road. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

The province's 75-page "minimum standards for the construction of subdivision roads and streets" lists criteria for the province taking over a private road. They include road width, maximum gradient, proper drainage, and culverts, among others.

Back in Fredericton, the documents say, senior official Jules Michaud "casts doubt" on whether the upgrades met the standards. Another civil servant, Colleen Brown, said there were "a number of remaining deficiencies," including no second entrance to the road.

'Connection'

In his first interview for this story, Thompson blamed "higher powers" in Fredericton for the decision. "I think that Mr. Ames had a hard time overturning those decisions," he said. "I'll just leave it at that."

In the subsequent telephone interview, though, he said the outcome reflected on Ames and that played a role in his decision to run for the PCs.

"If John wants to pretend that's why I'm running, you could say yes, it's government's incompetence to execute on a promise that was made."

He said it would be "stupid" to claim the road dispute had no role in his candidacy because "it's running in the back of my mind."

Many attempts on road

Planning for the Birch Forest Road subdivision began in 1994. It was built on private land off Route 127 between the St. Croix River and Chamcook Lake.

DTI documents show repeated references to the road not meeting minimum requirements for the province to take it over. In 1997, officials noted that a road of that length might require a second entrance.

There's a lot of things in life you have to put behind you, and this road is one of them.- Greg Thompson

Residents, including Thompson, began pushing for provincial servicing in 2008. They were turned down, tried again in 2013, and were rejected again.

Ames promised to look into the issue after he was elected in 2014, Thompson said. "I have to say that I was impressed that he would meet with me and talk this through even though I didn't vote for him."

To-do list

Thompson said after his March 25, 2017 meeting with Ames and Fraser, he received "a to-do" list of necessary upgrades that residents would have to pay for out of their own pockets.

DTI staff estimated the cost at $526,000, based on an initial costing from October 2016. Another estimate at the same time put it at $479,000.

Thompson said the residents did the work for much less than that, thanks to one resident donating heavy equipment and others pitching in with manual labour.

Birch Forest Road, located by the red marker, sits north of Saint Andrews. (Google Maps)

In a June 11 email, however, district engineer Alan Kerr said residents had been given "the impression" that the department was now "expected to carry out the work or accept the road as is."

The next day, another email from Kerr said Ames still believed "that the residents will perform the upgrades but they want assurances that when the work is done the road will be taken over."

Ten days later, Thompson wrote his letter praising Ames.

'Significant political storm'

By July 2017, Thompson said, the upgrade work on the road was largely done. In early August, Kerr and Alan Acheson, superintendent of DTI's St. Stephen office, visited the road and declared the upgrades satisfactory, he said.

The next step was a DTI survey of the road. "Mr. Kerr also stated that he would not be upset if our Minister, John Ames contacted his cabinet colleague Bill Fraser to speed up the process," Thompson wrote in an Aug. 3 email to Ames that he shared with CBC News.

Instead, Thompson said, DTI officials in Fredericton raised a new requirement for the road that he claims they did not mention before: a second entry point.

The Birch Forest Road residents hired a lawyer to sue the government, but no lawsuit was ever filed. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

In fact, the province's document listing the road standards, available publicly on line, says there must be "at least two points of access to each street." Fraser provided CBC News with a copy of the document, which is dated May 2017.

Discussions continued into November, when Ames made "a series of technical inquiries" to DTI, including about the possible second entry point.

But later that month, according to a Jules Michaud email, Fraser told Thompson that "no compensation or consideration is due Mr. Thompson or the residents. … It is noted that this issue has become a significant political storm."

Lawyer hired

The Birch Forest Road residents also hired Moncton lawyer Mike Murphy, a former Liberal minister whose spouse is now a PC election candidate, to sue the province to force it to take over the road.
But Murphy said in an email he was instructed to drop the case before Thompson announced he was running for office. No lawsuit was ever filed.

Thompson said residents are resigned to the fact they paid to upgrade the road and did not get what they expected in return.

He said if he's elected this fall, he will advocate for a better policy on private roads. "There's got to be a policy established that makes sense to people."

But he said he would not use his position to get his own road serviced by the province. "There's a lot of things in life you have to put behind you, and this road is one of them."

About the Author

Jacques Poitras

Provincial Affairs reporter

Jacques Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. Raised in Moncton, he also produces the CBC political podcast Spin Reduxit.