Graham promises to fight N.B. election

Premier Shawn Graham is vowing to lead the Liberal Party into September's provincial election despite the collapse of the NB Power deal that he spent five months championing in the face of intense public anger.

Graham's fate as Liberal leader was immediately called into question once he announced the death of the $3.2-billion power deal that initiated a caucus revolt, cost him one cabinet minister and sparked several protests.

The 42-year-old premier denied that he's going to resign on Wednesday despite the power deal's failure.

"I'm looking forward to the next election campaign," Graham said.

"I think very clearly our team has shown we have the conviction to deal with some of these big issues, and we're going to continue to work hard on behalf of New Brunswickers to provide those solutions."

But his political opponents say Graham has damaged his credibility for good less than six months before the Sept. 27 election.

Progressive Conservative Leader David Alward started carving into his chief rival moments after the collapse of Graham's signature policy decision was revealed.

"He said it was a done deal. He said this was the best deal that we possibly could get," Alward said.

Political shift

The New Democratic Party and the Green Party have used the NB Power deal's controversy to earn a share of the political spotlight in a province that normally pays little attention to third parties.

Perhaps in a sign of the political shift in New Brunswick, New Democratic Party Leader Roger Duguay used the deal's demise to call on Alward, not Graham, to announce his intentions for NB Power's future.

"There is no time for back-slapping; we need a hard conversation about the future of NB Power and the province," Duguay said.

"We need pragmatic solutions and an end to secretive and incompetent government, Liberal and Conservative, which led us to this point."

Green Party Leader Jack MacDougall, who ran against Graham for the Liberal Party leadership in 2002, struck a conciliatory tone.

As a long-time political organizer, MacDougall said six months is a long time in politics and he urged people not to rule out a comeback for the Liberal leader.

"Good on Premier Graham. I think he made a very courageous decision. I caution anybody to sort of rub his nose in it. I think it is time to say let's move on," MacDougall said.

"A great thing happened here besides the act of democracy, everyone in New Brunswick was engaged in a discussion on where our energy comes from, what kind of energy can we have in the future. As far as the Green Party goes, we celebrated that."

Tom Mann, a New Brunswick labour leader who helped organize the grassroots movement against the deal, said the premier is damaged goods as he prepares for the upcoming election.

"He's got a deep, deep hole he needs to dig himself out of," Mann said.

Caucus supports Graham

Graham's troubles during the power deal saga were not just from those leading the protests or sitting across from him in the legislative assembly.

He had to stare down internal caucus unrest, particularly over the original $4.8-billion memorandum of understanding.

Saint John Liberal MLA Abel LeBlanc was one of a group of three cabinet ministers and two MLAs who told Graham they could not vote for the original energy accord.

LeBlanc said the party stands behind its leader despite the contentious power deal.

"Yeah, definitely the caucus is behind the premier. They've been behind him right along on this," LeBlanc said.