Ex-deputy premier Gauvin plans to vote against Higgs's provincial budget

Former deputy premier and newly independent MLA Robert Gauvin says he will vote against the Progressive Conservative government's budget next month.

Gauvin told CBC's Information Morning Moncton that he plans to oppose the budget in the legislature, a vote that could trigger a provincial election.

"Now I don't have a boss to answer to, so I can answer whatever I want," said Gauvin, the MLA for Shippagan-Lamque-Miscou.

The budget hasn't been introduced yet.

Gauvin resigned last week from cabinet and from the PC caucus over the proposed health reforms, including the planned nighttime closure of emergency departments in six small hospitals. That included the Caraquet hospital near Gauvin's riding.

While Premier Blaine Higgs has cancelled the reforms,Gauvin said he will still vote against the budget.

His vote on the budget could be decisive.

Provincial election could happen

There are currently 47 MLAs, including the Speaker, who only votes to break a tie.

• MLA Robert Gauvin considers retirement from politics

But the Speaker, Liberal MLA Daniel Guitard, has said he's willing to resign the position and rejoin the Liberal opposition caucus if Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers asks him to.

If 20 Liberal members, three Green MLAs and Gauvin all voted against the budget, the PC government would be toppled and a provincial election would have to happen.

Liberal leader Kevin Vickers said Tuesday that his party still plans to try to force an election at the first opportunity.

"We will do everything we can to bring down this government," he said, adding that the handling of the reforms by Premier Blaine Higgs showed "gross incompetence."

Green Party Leader David Coon hasn't said how he will vote on the PC budget next month, and People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin says he wants to see the budget before making up his mind.

The Liberals had vowed to introduce a non-confidence motion to force an election over the health reforms, but after the changes were withdrawn, the party would not commit to going ahead with that.

The budget will be introduced March 10 with a vote on it expected March 20.

Gauvin said last week after his resignation that he might not run again if there's an early election, but he said Tuesday morning he would reconsider if his family supports the decision.

"If they say yes, it's a yes."

He admitted his clout as an independent MLA would change if someone won a majority.

'My vote is big'

In a minority situation, "right now as an independent, my vote is big," he said. If a majority is elected, "you're like a pea in a soup."

Coon said he'd welcome Gauvin as a candidate in the next election, and Vickers said Tuesday he told Gauvin the Liberals were "open" to him joining their caucus.

The first-term MLA, the son of the late former PC MLA and cabinet minister Jean Gauvin, said he believes it was his resignation that led Higgs to cancel the reforms on Sunday.

• Higgs may have jeopardized reputation for making politically risky decisions in health reform fallout

"Do you really think if I hadn't left Friday that the government would have moved Sunday?" he said. "If I had stayed, [the reforms]would have moved forward."

"Pressure was put on the premier, by people from the party, that they were going lose this election badly and he needed to do something. The premier's knees buckled."

Blaine Higgs is a big enough man that he didn't put his brand before what he believed was the right thing to do.- Ted Flemming, Health minister

Higgs said Monday he reversed course because the two regional health authorities weren't able to answer key questions that arose in the last week about how the plan would be implemented.

Health Minister Ted Flemming added a new rationale Tuesday, saying the government's precarious position in the legislature played a role in the retreat.

"If something is dead on arrival it is irresponsible to cause such turmoil, strife, angst, emotion and in many cases fear for people," he said.

Flemming also rejected the idea that Higgs had damaged his reputation for being able to make tough but unpopular decisions, telling reporters that backing off was the riskier move because the reforms did enjoy wide support outside the six affected communities.

"Blaine Higgs is a big enough man that he didn't put his brand before what he believed was the right thing to do," the minister said.

"The political decision would have been to forge ahead with this chaos, and [in an election] there's enough urban votes that you can win."

Flemming said some people who supported the reforms in private came out against them in public, though he wouldn't say who.

He said the planned health summit in June, which will wrap up consultations on health reform through the spring, will require those people to put their views on the public record.

He also suggested it might be time to reverse decades of centralization in the health care system and give communities a set budget that they can use for the services they want to have locally.