Leonard vows super-department will cut costs

Government Services Minister Craig Leonard is promising he will use his new super-department to root out unneeded bureaucratic spending.

Premier David Alward retooled his cabinet on Thursday and appointed Leonard to the new Department of Government Services that will bring together government contracting, accounts payable, payroll and other bureaucratic functions.

Margaret-Ann Blaney will take over as the provinces energy minister. Blaney will now be the lead minister in the fight to recover some of the costs of the Point Lepreau refurbishment overruns.

Blaney had been Alward's environment minister but that department will be merged with the Department of Local Government. Bruce Fitch will be in charge of the merged department.

Leonard said the goal of his new department is clear: cut duplication, cut spending and cut jobs.

"Accounts payable, for example, we still have individuals, or units of individuals, in different departments who are responsible for accounts payable. That clearly needs to be pulled together into one central unit," he said.

Mixed reactions

Reactions were mixed to Thursdays reorganization.

The merging of the departments of local government and environment is being praised by one organization that often is a thorn in the side of government

David Coon, the executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, is one of the most vocal advocates for the environment inthe province. He said that merging the departments of environment and local government is a smart move.

"It could have been jammed in with a whole bunch of things and this is probably the best fit," Coon said.

Coon said that the move was a positive one for the environment, and that flood plains and watersheds may actually be better protected under the merged department.

"It will streamline it and it will tie the department of environment to people on the ground a little more, through the local governance and local governance initiatives," Coon said.

Coon is also pleased about the change in environment minister.

"[Blaney] didnt seem comfortable trying to be the environment advocate around the cabinet table," he said.

But the merger didnt sit well with Jean-Paul Savoie, the mayor of the northern village of Kedgewick.

"We were very surprised of the announcements. We were not consulted on the changes," he said.

Savoie, a former Liberal MLA, said he is concerned that by merging two departments into one the strength of both will be diluted.

"It will take the attention off the full minister and a full staff and by giving too many responsibilities to one individual, one minister Its the wrong direction to go," he said.

The departments of environment and local government have had an on-again, off-again relationship over the past30 years, as subsequent governments bring them together then split them apart.

Deficit

The Alward governments latest restructuring plan comes as Finance Minister Blaine Higgs is trying to wrestle down the provinces deficit, which is estimated at $471 million.

Alward promised last fall that his government would overhaul government services in a way that would cut provincial spending. Leonard said his department will help the finance minister in his deficit-fighting agenda.

"That's the whole purpose of this change, to get savings out of these areas, and those are savings that clearly will fall directly to the bottom line," Leonard said.

As energy minister, Leonard overhauled the structure of NB Power and introduced a law that broke parts of the franchise agreement with Enbridge Gas New Brunswick.

The Alward government also trimmed the number of senior civil servants. The government restructuring will reduce the number of deputy ministers from 28 to 23.

The reorganization also eliminates the government's public relations agency, Communications New Brunswick.

Parts of Communications New Brunswick will now report to Leonard, parts to individual departments, and parts directly to the premier's office.