Blaine Higgs hire unaware of social media ban on politically partisan posts
82 Comments Commenting is now closed for this story.
David Raymond Amos Content disabled
Nearly 12 hours ago I posted
"Welcome to the Circus Madame Hurley Say Hey to your buddies Rob Moore and Mr Higgs for me will ya?"
I trust that the comedian Mr Gauvin knows why I am still laughing
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: Gauvin as a comedian as well as a politician is droll, but nit in the sense of funny.
John Cannotha "I was not aware of
that. As you know, I am very new to the government. This is my first
government job ever and I was not aware of this situation." - Around
here we don't ask for permission, we ask for forgiveness !
Michel Jones Reply to @John Cannothan: That sounds liberal to me.
Roy Nicholl Reply to @Michel Jones:
Red-tie, blue-tie ... it's still a tie.
David Raymond Amos Reply to @Roy Nicholl: YUP
Matt Steele Not
sure what the big issue is as there are tons of political appointments
working within govt. . In many cases , upper level Civil Servants have
their whole families working in govt. in various departments .The Govt.
could easily cut the Civil Service by 20% to 30% , and not notice any
change in the level of service . Govt. Services has been used as one
GIANT MAKE WORK PROJECT for many , many years !
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Matt Steele: As I said to you many times you NDP dudes can cry me a river
David Raymond Amos Welcome to the Circus Madame Hurley Say Hey to your buddies Rob Moore and Mr Higgs for me will ya?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @David
Raymond Amos: Trust that your boss Mr Gauvin will understand why I will
enjoy debating the aptly named lawyer again
Reply to @Stephen
White: Methinks the lady's boss the comedian who is now our Minister
Heritage would no doubt be enjoying this farce nearly as much as his
buddy Kris Austin N'esy Pas?
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: As a comedian as well as a politician, the lady's boss is droll, but not in the sense of funny.
Dan Lee Lady.....dont take this the wrong way but......you have no bussiness working there.............
A few years ago...Premier Lord hired a company to cut back......and now we hire this...........
no wonder i turned to green party
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Dan Lee: Methinks Kris Austin will be disappointed to read that N'esy Pas?
Lauchlin
Murray The
real loss here to New Brunswickers was the firing of Francoise Roy. Ms
Roy has both the formal training and accumulated on the job experience
to better handle that mandate than most others available for the post.
It's incredibly unfortunate elected leaders can't look past short term
party desires and financing to consider and protect the interests of New
Brunswickers, first. Francoise Roy as deputy minister would have
maintained a continuity and professionalism within the department she
served, which is essentially the primary role of a deputy minister.
Having someone try to fill those shoes who claims their ignorance of law
and policy is OK in their case - when it never is for anyone else -
brings New Brunswick as a whole down another five notches or so. It's
clear Francoise Roy has the maturity, great sense of public service - my
god, she was an excutive with the Cancer Institute for over nine years,
and that's not about petty politics - and all of the other experience
and qualities best suited for public service; I know she'd never be
claiming she 'didn't get the memo' to defend her behaviour. And her
credentials convince me she'd never lie about 'not getting the memo.'
Matt Steele
Reply to @Lauchlin
Murray: .....Obviously you are not aware of Francoise Roy's background ,
and how she was able to move up within govt.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Matt Steele: Whats your point?
Rosco Holt No, it's not true(srac). Higgy appointed another partisan hack in the civil service. What a shack up?
Appointing incompetent party followers at a expansive price tag, while preaching austerity.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Rosco holt:
Methinks its merely par for the course for the Big Bad Backroom Boyz in
Blue as they make their plans on the Back 9 N'esy Pas?
Blaine Higgs hire unaware of social media ban on politically partisan posts
Yennah Hurley says she didn't receive that information in her HR package upon hiring
Yennah Hurley is described on a government website as a senior adviser to the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
One of Premier Blaine Higgs's
hand-picked experts appointed to shake up the civil service is
apologizing for politically partisan social media posts.
Yennah Hurley says she didn't know until Friday that the terms of her appointment include a ban on publicizing political events.
She
said a letter from the province's human resources department was
mistakenly left out of her hiring package earlier this year.
"I
apologize, because apparently in my original HR package should have
been a letter that told me this information," Hurley said in an
interview late Friday afternoon.
"I was not aware of that. As
you know, I am very new to the government. This is my first government
job ever and I was not aware of this situation."
Hurley shared this event invitation on her Facebook page. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
She didn't know about the missing letter until CBC News asked Higgs's office about the posts on Friday.
"Now I am well aware and it will not happen in the future," Hurley said.
On
Sept. 10, Hurley posted an invitation to a Progressive Conservative
barbecue in Quispamsis, the premier's riding. She later posted photos
from the event.
Hurley said she was "not at all trying to
advertise for it [but was] just inviting people to come because I was
also attending this barbecue in my own community."
In
June, she attended a major PC fundraising dinner in Fredericton. On her
public Facebook account, she posted several photos of the event and
praised Higgs's speech, mentioning he got a standing ovation.
Hurley,
who said she is not a PC party member, said late Friday afternoon that
she still had not received the letter, so she was not sure if she is
banned from attending partisan events altogether.
"All I know for now is that I'm not supposed to put anything on social media," she said.
New job
She
also said she was unsure whether she would have to delete the old
posts. Most of her Facebook posts are about New Brunswick tourism
destinations, which falls within her job duties.
Hurley was one
of three consultants appointed by Higgs earlier this year whose hiring
was criticized by the Opposition Liberals.
She is described on the government website as a senior adviser to the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture.
The
other two consultants are John Logan, who worked with Higgs at Irving
Oil and is handling special projects at the Department of Transportation
and Infrastructure, and Bob Youden, a former J.D. Irving executive
providing strategic advice in the premier's office.
Hurley
founded an outdoor adventure company and in 2012 wrote a travel blog
about New Brunswick. She toured the province in an RV and was a weekly
guest on CBC's afternoon radio show Shift New Brunswick, dispensing tourism tips.
Hurley said she didn't know she couldn't post pictures on Facebook from partisan events such as this barbecue. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Higgs
said he met Hurley, who lives in his riding, in 2017 and was impressed
by how "extremely passionate" she was about tourism in the province.
In
the legislature, he called the consultants "subject matter experts,"
though the Liberal opposition called them "shadow deputy ministers."
Hiring before firing
Hurley,
one of Premier Blaine Higgs’s hand-picked experts, said she didn't
receive a letter from human resources telling her she couldn't publicize
political events. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Hurley
was put in place in February, just weeks before Higgs fired Francoise
Roy, who had been the deputy minister at the department.
Her appointment came as the PC government cut spending on tourism from $20.2 million last year to $12.8 million this year.
Hurley
said Friday that she had not made any major changes yet but has
"rejigged the strategy a little bit … You'll be hearing about that very
shortly."
Higgs said earlier this year that Hurley and Logan
were earning deputy-minister-level salaries of $150,000 to $175,000 per
year on two-year contracts, while Youden would be paid by the job.
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