Year of managing clashing ministers teaches Higgs what a headache he used to be

Premier Blaine Higgs says being forced to juggle the "passions" of a diverse group of ministers in 2019 helped him realize how much of a headache he once must have been to his former boss, former premier David Alward.

Though he wouldn't elaborate, Higgs acknowledged during a year-end interview that two key ministers did not see eye-to-eye on mandatory vaccinations for schoolchildren, one of the most contentious government initiatives of the year.

"We do have a diverse group," he said. "We have a passionate bunch, and there's nothing wrong with passion, whether it be the vaccines, or other particular interests or ideas."

In August, Justice Minister Andrea Anderson-Mason said she wasn't sure how she'd vote on a bill to eliminate religious and philosophical exemptions for vaccinations.

Education Minister Dominic Cardy said any minister who couldn't support a government bill should quit, though Higgs later said he'd allow a free vote.

The premier said the apparent split was an example of two ministers forcefully pushing their views just as he did when he complained publicly about runaway government spending when he was finance minister under Alward from 2010 to 2014.

"I now have more of an appreciation for David Alward and what he went through, because I was like them," he said. "I was a bit of a difficult case."

As minister of finance, Higgs frequently sounded off about his fellow Progressive Conservatives pressuring him to let them spend more taxpayer dollars.

In 2012 he pointedly refused to publicly support Alward's appointment of PC MLA Margaret-Ann Blaney as CEO of a Crown corporation.

His candid comments rankled Alward and his advisers "on more than one occasion," Higgs now says. "But it wasn't from lack of passion, it was from excessive passion. It was from a drive to get the job done and a drive to make a difference."

Now that he can see as premier how nettlesome he could be back then, he has more patience with his own ministers when they stir the pot.

I know that they're pushing to do what they believe is right. At the end of the day we have to balance that with the greater good and the greater consensus, and that's my job.- Blaine Higgs, premier

"I was always pushing the envelope and always trying to change behaviour, and so when I have folks do that, and they threaten to do this or that or the other thing, I kind of take it with a grain of salt," he said.

"I know that they're passionate. I know that they're pushing to do what they believe is right. At the end of the day we have to balance that with the greater good and the greater consensus, and that's my job."

To be debated in new year

The dynamic between Cardy and Anderson-Mason continued into the fall,when Cardy introduced a new version of the vaccination bill that includes the notwithstanding clause from the Charter of Rights.

That allows the bill to withstand a court challenge on grounds of religious discrimination.

Higgs said at the time that the notwithstanding clause was included at the urging of lawyers in Anderson-Mason's department who said the bill would be unconstitutional without it.

But Cardy told reporters that if opposition parties teamed up to remove the clause, he'd still be willing to vote for the bill, which will be debated in the new year.

$1M bridge repair to 'bridge the gap'

Opposition Liberals argued earlier this month thatRobert Gauvin, the deputy premier, was another source of internal dissent. They said Higgs allowed Gauvin to announce $1 million to repair a key bridge in his riding as a way of healing a rift.

"It's more like a million dollars to bridge the gap between the premier and the deputy premier," Liberal MLA Benot Bourque said on Dec. 13.

The 60-year-old bridge between Shippagan and Lameque, which includes a drawbridge, is the only link between the mainland Acadian Peninsula and two islands where more than 2,000 people live.

It has experienced mechanical problems that Gauvin called a safety hazard when he announced the funding Dec. 10, the same day as the capital budget and one day before other projects in the budget were revealed.

In late 2018,Gauvin threatened to quit cabinet over the handling of language requirements for ambulance paramedics. But Higgs brushed off suggestions Gauvin had to be soothed again this year.

Higgssaid he was firm with ministers that no individual projects would be identified in the capital budget speech itself, but "Robert was keen to have that following the budget speech. He wanted the opportunity to be first to the plate."

So he decided "it's fine, there's no problem, there's nothing to hide, it was all coming out [the next day]," Higgs said.

Improved rapport with Alliance

Besides managing his own cabinet and caucus, Higgs also had to negotiate with three other political party leaders in the legislature to keep his minority government alive and get legislation passed.

Usually it's the People's Alliance that backs PC budgets and bills, and Higgs said his rapport with Alliance Leader Kris Austin is even better than a year ago.

"The ability for us to work together and the recognition or respect for each other has grown over the year," he said, calling Austin "very thoughtful and rational."

"If I had a choice I would rather be in a majority for sure. But if you don't have a choice and you dance with the partner that put you there. There's an obligation on both parts to make it work. I feel we've been trying to do that and they have too."

A year agoHiggs said he hoped to co-operate more with the Liberals and the Greens in 2019, but he said that hasn't been possible.

He blames the Liberals for avoiding co-operation because their goal is to get back in power, and in the Greens' case, "the difficulty at that end is the elements of the agenda are all or nothing."

Higgs said he hopes three recent moves would allow for more co-operation with Green Leader David Coon: the creation of a standing committee on climate change, the setting aside of more public forest for conservation, and the freezing of how much wood can be cut by major industrial companies on Crown land.

"I would think that he'd see all that as moving in a direction that brings us closer together in our alignment," he said. "But I try to bridge across a big spectrum, and I feel like the discussion I generally have with Mr. Coon can be quite narrowly focused."