N.B. government will apologize to former P.C. minister for firing
Premier Susan Holt says province won’t fight Blaney ruling, will pay compensation
New Brunswick's Liberal government will officially apologize to former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Margaret-Ann Blaney over her firing by a previous Liberal government in 2014.
Premier Susan Holt confirmed to CBC News that her government will not contest a ruling by the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board that Blaney's rights were violated by the firing.
The province will also comply with the board's order to compensate Blaney at a cost of more than $700,000.
"There were errors made in the past. It wasn't the right way to do things, to fire people for partisan reasons," Holt told CBC News Wednesday morning.
"Part of why I got into politics was to do things differently, and move away from partisan, petty politics to doing the right thing. So we abide by the ruling, we're going to apologize and things like that won't happen again on my watch."
Blaney told a hearing last year that she was persona non grata in the province after the firing, could not find another job and was forced to start drawing on her MLA pension at a reduced rate.
She said in an interview that after an 11-year legal battle, Holt's announcement was cathartic and she would frame the apology when she receives it.
"Because of what's happening south of the border, and so many people having their rights stripped and extinguished, when we get a ruling like this, to say 'this is wrong and this can never happen again,' you pay attention," she said.
"I think the light on the human rights piece in New Brunswick dimmed a little bit. And I think now, today, it shines bright again."
N.B. government will apologize to former PC minister over firingBlaney, a PC MLA first elected in 1999, was appointed CEO of the provincial agency Efficiency New Brunswick by PC Premier David Alward in 2012.
The move was widely seen as an example of political patronage.
Two years later, the new Liberal government of Brian Gallant fired Blaney and passed legislation that prevented her from collecting severance or from suing.
This week, the labour board upheld Blaney's complaint under the Human Rights Act, saying the Liberal legislation was "an abuse of power" and that the law, and the firing, amounted to discrimination based on Blaney's party affiliation.
"Ms. Blaney was not treated with dignity, was not afforded the protection of the rule of law, and she was subjected to public miseries because of her political belief and activity," the board said.
It ordered the government to pay her the equivalent of more than $700,000 for lost salary and vacation, pension contributions and damages.
It also ordered the government to issue a written apology "acknowledging that it discriminated against her in violation of [the Human Rights Act] because of political activity."
Blaney didn't deny that her political connection played a role in her appointment to the job in the first place, but she said "history will show" that such appointments were a common practice by Liberal and PC governments.
"The bottom line was that I had a solid, legal contract and I was more than capable of doing the job."
Former PC minister fired by Liberals wins legal challengeThe ruling noted that while a Liberal government fired Blaney, "blame cannot be attributed solely to that government."
It said the PC government of Blaine Higgs, elected in 2018, "did nothing to rectify the violation of Ms. Blaney's rights" and continued to defend the Liberal legislation and tried to prevent Blaney from pursuing her complaint under the Human Rights Act.
The legislature "as a whole" treated Blaney in a disingenuous and callous way, it said.
In contrast, Holt took less than 48 hours to decide to accept the findings, Blaney pointed out.
That "speaks volumes about her leadership and the character that she has," she said. "It's very impressive."
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Former PC cabinet minister in N.B. wins case over firing by Liberals
Province ordered to apologize to Margaret-Ann Blaney, pay more than $700,000
Former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Margaret-Ann Blaney has won a resounding and financially lucrative legal victory over her 2014 firing by a Liberal government.
The New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board says the firing discriminated against Blaney because of her past political activity, and the government must apologize and pay more than $700,000 in compensation.
Liberal legislation drafted to prevent her from suing over her firing "was motivated by contempt for Ms. Blaney as a person and employee and demonstrates bad faith and an abuse of power," the board said in its July 21 ruling.
"Ms. Blaney was not treated with dignity, was not afforded the protection of the rule of law, and she was subjected to public miseries because of her political belief and activity."
- Firing was 'catastrophic,' made me 'a pariah,' Margaret-Ann Blaney tells inquiry
- Bills kill severance for Robert MacLeod, Margaret-Ann Blaney
The Holt government did not immediately comment on whether it would apply for judicial review of the decision.Blaney declined to comment but her lawyer Kelly VanBuskirk said the ruling makes two important points: that people active in politics should not be "victimized" after they're hired for a job, and that a government can't take away their right to contest a firing.
"That's not the kind of thing we should be supporting in a democratic society," he said.
"That is stuff of countries and societies other than ours."
Appointed to Efficiency N.B. in 2012
Blaney, first elected in 1999, held several cabinet positions in the Bernard Lord and David Alward PC governments before being appointed as the CEO of Efficiency New Brunswick in 2012.
Former PC minister fired by Liberals wins legal challengeThe appointment was widely seen as a patronage appointment, and even some PC cabinet ministers at the time — including future premier Blaine Higgs — refused to endorse it.
After taking power in 2014, the new Liberal government of Brian Gallant told Blaney the agency was being dissolved and her position terminated without any severance.
It adopted legislation in March 2015 that retroactively fired Blaney, effective Oct. 16, 2014, and prevented her from suing.
Blaney told a labour board hearing last year that the firing was "catastrophic" for her and made it impossible for her to find a new job.
She was forced to draw on savings and investments and to collect her pension early at a reduced amount.
This
2012 file photo shows premier David Alward and finance minister Blaine
Higgs at a news conference held to discuss the appointment of
Margaret-Ann Blaney to Efficiency New Brunswick. (CBC)
"I was completely vilified in a very public way," she said.
"At every turn, with every conversation, it became increasingly apparent that I was like a pariah."
Blaney filed a complaint under the Human Rights Act, a move the Gallant and Higgs governments tried repeatedly to block in court.
But in 2023, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal cleared the way for her case to go ahead.
The labour board ruling says the 2015 legislation to block Blaney from suing wasn't specific enough to override the protections of the Human Rights Act.
It also pointed out the Gallant Liberals made its first moves to fire her before the 2015 act came into effect and that she filed her complaint before the act was adopted by the legislature.
The board also said that the Higgs government "did nothing to rectify the violation of Ms. Blaney's rights" while it was in power from 2018 to 2024, adding to the callous way she was treated.
The board ordered the province to pay Blaney:
- $358,071 for lost salary for the equivalent of the balance of her five-year appointment, plus interest.
- $42,968.32 for lost vacation for the same period, plus interest.
- $230,000 in general damages.
- The difference between the sale price of her Rothesay home and its appraised value at the time, which the ruling says was $20,000.
The province must also make up for the $88,075 that would have been added to her pension between 2015 and 2017 had she not been fired.
The board also said the province's apology should be in writing, "acknowledging that it discriminated against her" because of her political activity.
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Bills kill severance for Robert MacLeod, Margaret-Ann Blaney
New legislation prevents former heads of Invest NB, Efficiency NB from suing province
The former CEOs of Invest New Brunswick and Efficiency New Brunswick have received an unpleasant and retroactive October surprise from the Gallant government, CBC News has learned.
Robert MacLeod and Margaret-Ann Blaney will be prevented from collecting any severance pay and banned from suing the province over their firings two months ago.
Those provisions are contained in two pieces of legislation: one, introduced on Thursday, will dismantle Invest NB and replace it with a new agency, Opportunities New Brunswick. The other, introduced on Friday, would dissolve Efficiency NB.
Most of the Opportunities NB bill sets out how the job-creation agency will work, but Section 35 lays out how one job in particular -- MacLeod’s -- is to be eliminated. The Efficiency NB bill uses identical language to terminate Blaney.
MacLeod, a former Progressive Conservative leadership candidate and campaign co-chair, was appointed CEO by then-Premier David Alward in 2011. Blaney, a long-time PC MLA and cabinet minister, became president of Efficiency NB in 2012.
Both were dumped in October after the swearing-in of the Gallant Liberals, who had denounced both hirings as patronage. Both had been paid six-figure salaries.
The province refused to discuss the terms of MacLeod’s and Blaney’s departures, but ordinarily they would receive severance under the terms of their five-year employment contracts.
But the new bills, once they take effect, will put an end to that by retroactively eliminating both positions effective Oct. 16, nine days after the Liberals took office.
The bills, using identical language, say MacLeod’s and Blaney’s jobs are “revoked” and that “all contracts, agreements, orders or by-laws relating to the remuneration, the rate of reimbursement for expenses or severance pay to be paid” to each of them are “null and void.’
It also says that regardless of any contract MacLeod and Blaney had, no severance or expenses are to be paid to them.
Another sub-section makes it illegal for anyone to file a lawsuit against the government over the dissolutions of Invest NB or Efficiency NB, or over MacLeod’s and Blaney’s terminations
“This is normal procedure,” said Energy Minister Donald Arseneault, who introduced the Efficiency NB bill. “It’s in the legislation, it’s black-and-white, and further than that, I won’t talk about personnel matters.”
But PC Leader Bruce Fitch, who was part of the cabinet that appointed MacLeod and Blaney, called the clauses “heavy handed” and “very politically motivated.”
He said MacLeod and Blaney, as deputy minister-level appointments, were entitled to the same severance provisions as any government employee.
“Whether there’s a contract, whether there’s years of service provided to the people of New Brunswick, they should receive their entitlement,” Fitch said.
He agreed that Gallant can appoint and remove deputy ministers, but when someone is let go, ““there’s usually entitlements that go with that.”
He refused to say whether the initial appointments of the two high-profile Tories were also politically motivated.
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Alward should halt patronage picks: expert
Premier David Alward's Progressive Conservative government is courting trouble unless it halts the growing numbers of patronage appointments, according to a political scientist.
Robert
MacLeod raises David Alward's hand after he won the PC leadership race
in 2008. Alward appointed MacLeod to lead a new economic development
agency in January. ((CBC))
Don Desserud, a political scientist at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, said the Tories should put a halt to all the patronage appointments.
"In terms of the public's expectations this is not exactly what they thought was going to happen and therefore there is going to be disappointment," Desserud said.
When the Tories were on the opposition benches, Alward and his senior MLAs hammered the Liberals for their patronage appointments.
But the Alward government has not backed away from the trend.
Robert MacLeod and Daniel Allain were Alward's campaign co-chairman during the successful election campaign.
MacLeod is now the chief executive officer of InvestNB, a provincial economic development agency, and Allain is the president of NB Liquor.
Premier David Alward appointed Daniel Allain to the position of president and chief executive officer of NB Liquor. (CBC)
Basque and Chiasson are now public interveners hired by the Department of Justice.
Yassin Choukri, a former Bernard Lord advisor, was given another public intervener appointment last fall.
Michel Leger, another Alward advisor, was named as the head of the government's insurance committee.
But Desserud, who Alward has picked to review ways to get unelected parties more involved in the legislative assembly, said the Tories have not been different than the Liberals when it comes to appointing loyalists to government jobs.
Desserud said that's part of the reason why more people don't like politics.
"This is one of the reasons. The public does see that political parties say what they need to say to get elected and then turn around and do the exact opposite," Desserud said.
The Alward government defends all of its appointments as good ones and has shown no sign of changing course.
Alward defends Leger's appointment
Justice minister's political assistant is Leger's son
Premier David Alward is defending his government's controversial choice of Michel Leger to lead a provincial auto insurance review committee.
Leger, a Shediac lawyer with a long Progressive Conservative past, was announced as chairman of the review on Tuesday.
Leger worked on the Tory campaigns in several recent elections and was hired by the former Bernard Lord government to lead a review of the province's health system.
Alward was pressed on Wednesday about whether he stands behind Leger's selection.
"I believe they are going to do outstanding work and Michel Leger will do an outstanding job as chair," Alward said on Wednesday.
In 1995, Leger first entered the Progressive Conservative leadership race.
But he then quickly dropped his bid when his indirect involvement in an insurance fraud case in the 1980s was splashed all over the news.
Leger denied any wrongdoing at the time.
"The allegations have been placed against me are false," Leger said in 1995.
Premier
David Alward is defending the appointment of Michel Leger as the
chairman of the provincial government's automobile insurance working
group.
The couple used a friend to get the insurance, with Leger's help, on the building, which later burned down.
The controversy ended up in court in 1990 where Court of Queen's Bench Justice David Dickson found Leger had made a "fraudulent omission and misrepresentation" in documents used to obtain the insurance.
Leger was not a party in the 1990 lawsuit so Dickson's comments about the Shediac lawyer were not a legal finding of fraudulent behaviour.
Family connection
Leger did not appear at the announcement of the automobile insurance working group on Tuesday.
However, Justice Minister Marie-Claude Blais vouched for Leger's character when asked by reporters.
Justice Minister Marie-Claude Blais's executive assistant, Yves, is Leger's son. ((CBC))
Blais's connection to Leger turns out not to be purely political.
CBC News has learned Leger's son, Yves, is the executive assistant to Blais.
Executive assistants are the political staff members to cabinet ministers.
The provincial government will not say what Leger will be paid as chairman of the working group.
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