Thursday 14 September 2023

Tory ex-ministers become accountability all-stars in new committee roles

 

Tory ex-ministers become accountability all-stars in new committee roles

3 MLAs who left N.B. cabinet use experience and independence to pose ‘robust’ questions

The trio of Tories left Premier Blaine Higgs's cabinet in June over their differences with the premier.

They're now using their time on the backbenches to bring extra scrutiny to how government departments spend money and administer programs.

Their approach was on display last week during four days of public accounts committee sessions and will be back in the spotlight again when they resume next week. 

"You pointed out a significant gap, I think, that needs to be fixed going forward," Portland-Simonds MLA Trevor Holder declared to Auditor General Paul Martin when he tabled his report on the province's COVID-19 response.

A smiling man looking back at the camera. Auditor General Paul Martin released his report Thursday on the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

Holder was referring to a snafu in June 2020 when the government issued an emergency order on mandatory masking — only to change it the next day because the wording didn't reflect what ministers had actually decided.

"That wasn't leaving out a comma or a colon somewhere," said Holder, who was part of the cabinet at the time.

"That was a pretty significant oversight that changes what cabinet actually decided. That's a pretty big breakdown."

Holder and his Saint John colleague Dorothy Shephard quit as ministers in June, complaining that Higgs's unwillingness to involve his cabinet and caucus in decisions was contrary to PC party values. 

Two other ministers, Jeff Carr and Daniel Allain, were shuffled out of cabinet after they joined Holder and Shephard in voting for an opposition Liberal motion on changes to Policy 713

A man in a blue suit sits at a desk in the legislature and turns his head to the camera over his shoulder.  Ex-transportation minister Jeff Carr was removed from cabinet over his support of a Liberal motion on the government's changes to education Policy 713, which contains a new rule that requires school staff to get parental consent before verbally using the chosen names and pronouns of children under 16. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

Holder, Shephard and Carr all found themselves assigned to the public accounts committee, along with two other PC MLAs who were dumped from cabinet in 2020, Andrea Anderson-Mason and Ross Wetmore. 

They're like a team of accountability all-stars, combining deep knowledge of the government's inner workings with an independent streak befitting the public accounts role. 

Urges accountability

Shepherd, a former minister of health from October 2020 to July 2022, urged her former department to do more to track the cost and outcomes of the provincial methadone program.

"I think that accountability is really important, especially with the dollar figure that's now attached to this program," she told senior officials.

"This is a program that needs to be reviewed very periodically and there needs to be an accountability to the dollars that are invested and to the outcomes that we are hoping to gain from a program such as this." 

Green Leader David Coon said the quality of questioning was obvious. 

"Each of them brought a particular context to their questioning because of their background in cabinet," he said. "That obviously made for more robust and thoughtful questions that, without that experience, you wouldn't have."

A balding man with glasses is speaking inside the legislature. Green Party Leader David Coon says the ex-ministers have a depth of experience from being in cabinet to bring to the committee. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

The public accounts committee was shifting to a less political approach even before the addition of the ex-ministers.

The Liberal chair, Chuck Chiasson, and the PC vice-chair, Wetmore, have been trying to make proceedings less partisan and more focused on genuine accountability and oversight.

But the addition of three members who were privy to behind-the-scenes cabinet deliberations just a few months ago has added a new level of scrutiny.

"I could tell by the way they were asking their questions that they might know more, they might have a bit more inside information, than we would have," said Liberal MLA Benoit Bourque.

"It certainly allows a more in-depth probing. There is less restraint. … I have to say it was certainly interesting for us as an opposition to watch." 

Discussions confidential

Cabinet discussions are confidential by law, so the ex-ministers can't reveal what happened there.

But their questions can hint at a lot.

Some of their questioning even implied that the Higgs government gave misleading information to the auditor general about the decision-making process during the early months of the pandemic response.

A woman standing and holding up a piece of paper    At the public accounts committee, PC MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason, who was attorney general when the pandemic began, questioned why the government's organizational chart didn't show any role for the 'COVID Core' group. (New Brunswick Legislative Assembly livestream)

Holder and Anderson-Mason questioned Martin about an organizational chart depicting an entity called COVID Core — a group of senior bureaucrats the two MLAs said they'd never heard of. 

"Maybe it just wasn't called that at the time," Holder said. "I don't particularly remember anything being called the COVID Core."

Anderson-Mason asked Martin, "How do you know it actually exists?" He answered that he had to take the government's word for it, because there were no written records of COVID Core meetings.

Anderson-Mason, who was attorney general when the pandemic began, also questioned why the government's organizational chart didn't show any role for that office. 

"I would say that in the information that you've been provided, that may be a critical piece of information that's missing," she said.

Carr also suggested Martin hadn't been given the whole story, telling him that if he'd interviewed former ministers during his audit, "you would seriously have a lot different report in front of us than you have now." 

The new approach isn't guaranteed to last.

The makeup of the committee will change after the next election, depending on which party and which MLAs are elected.

In the meantime, Holder, who described himself as "a big process guy," said he'd like even more changes to how the public accounts committee functions.

He suggested last week that rather than having all departments appear automatically each year, the committee could focus on those that need the most scrutiny and maybe even hold multiple sessions with them.

"Your approach absolutely makes sense," Martin told him. 

In fact, that's already happening.

The committee has added a second session with Ambulance New Brunswick next week to follow up on its Sept. 6 appearance. 

It has also voted to hold a public meeting with officials from the Executive Council Office to question them about the auditor general's pandemic report. 

That means the feisty former ministers who claim they've never heard of the "COVID Core" group will be able to confront top officials on that issue directly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Jacques Poitras

Provincial Affairs reporter

Jacques Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.

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36 Comments
 
 
 
David Amos 
I still maintain that Daniel Allain will be the next Leader/Premier 
 
 
Ralph Skavinsky
Reply to David Amos
David, I have been saying that for years. I have watched him progress thru his days with Bernard Lord and onward. It's a given and he deserves it. 


 
 
David Amos
"The Liberal chair, Chuck Chiasson, and the PC vice-chair, Wetmore, have been trying to make proceedings less partisan and more focused on genuine accountability and oversight."

Yea Right 

 

 

David Amos
"I could tell by the way they were asking their questions that they might know more, they might have a bit more inside information, than we would have," said Liberal MLA Benoit Bourque."

That dude was a cabinet minister too




Shawn Tabor
This is a very hard thing to do, if it even can be done. Too many variables or to many folks, politicians or even Businessmen, Businesswoman, that would throw a wrench into this. Remember this is some humans lively hood, from the Courts to the average Laymen. It does not mater which party is involved , for they are all the same, just different characters in the game. LOL. Quote” Hektor you have to learn to play the game. 
 
 
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Shawn Tabor
Hektor knows I have over 50 years of stories about the RCMP and I playing games Correct?

 
 
 
Dianne MacPherson 
There was no one (except Dorothy Shepherd's Family & close Friends)

who defended her more than I did,

during the worst stint of her time in Cabinet.

At the time, she was being berated by the Press,

Social Media and indeed the same Opposition Parties

who are singing her praises, today!!

The day I lost respect for Ms. Shepherd was when

she left her role as a Minister in the Higgs' Gov't.

As I read about her 'role' as an *ALL STAR*

I am left to wonder.......

 
David Amos
Reply to Dianne MacPherson 
Better late than never  
 
 
Graham McCormack 
Reply to Dianne MacPherson
One of the best moves she ever made.  
 
 
Dianne MacPherson
Reply to Graham McCormack
HARDLY the words, I would use !!

 
 
 
robert brown 
all stars for politicians is a bit of a stretch as it's the politicians who have brought us to the mess we are in 
 
 
David Amos
Reply to robert brown
And they were the cabinet ministers who oversaw it


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