It didn’t take long for Premier Susan Holt’s Liberals to find their footing in criticizing new Progressive Conservative Leader Daniel Allain.
The former PC administration isn’t being called “the Higgs government” anymore.
Now, it’s referred to as “the Higgs-Allain government,” highlighting Allain’s role as minister of local government under premier Blaine Higgs from 2020 to 2023.
Justice Minister Rob Mc Kee made the reference during a French-language radio interview on Thursday morning while discussing legislation aimed at establishing a mental health advocate.
Later that day, Housing Minister David Hickey included it in comments made during a media scrum focused on housing, following the PC opposition’s official reaction to the government’s throne speech.
“What we witnessed was a repeat of what troubled the previous Higgs-Allain government,” Hickey remarked about the speech, “and a rehashing of issues that affected that government back then.”
He was referring to the PC refusal to impose a rent cap when they were in power.
Allain fueled these critiques this week by not committing to maintaining the rent cap that the Liberals introduced in 2024.
WATCH | ‘It’s the same group of people’: Liberals use Higgs to attack Allain:
Liberals adopt ‘Higgs-Allain’ attack line on new PC leader
Premier Susan Holt’s Liberals aim to connect Daniel Allain with an unpopular former premier.
This opened up another opportunity for Liberal backbencher Kate Wilcott, who shared their new catchphrase Friday morning.
“After 46 percent rent increases under the Higgs-Allain government, Daniel Allain has come up with another plan that will make life even more expensive for New Brunswickers,” she stated.
Holt herself commented during a question period exchange with Mary Wilson, a PC MLA she knew before entering politics, saying “it’s unfortunate that she was part of the Higgs-Allain team.”
However, there’s one major flaw in the story being told by the Liberals.
Allain had a very public falling out with Higgs in 2023. (Tara King-Stewart/CBC)
Higgs and Allain had an open disagreement in June 2023 regarding Policy 713, which deals with gender identity and sexual orientation guidelines in provincial schools.
Allain was one of six MLAs who sided with the Liberal opposition on their motion calling for more examination of policy changes before they were put into action.
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Two weeks later, Higgs removed Allain from his cabinet position.
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Toward his goal or just someone else’s? During this year’s leadership race within PCs; some party members consistently criticized Allai because he voted against them once but voted alongside them hundreds of times. They called him disloyal and blamed him for their defeat during elections held earlier this year!.
By then Higgs’ popularity had sharply declined and many party members chose not participate actively during campaigns!.
He said he volunteered support through campaigning efforts directed toward candidates running Moncton area seats but still endured harsh backlash online!
- The issue divides opinion strongly amongst party ranks!
- This led Jason Purdy remarking: “That split caused division,” indicating political tensions increasing!
Tensions Remained High After Campaigns Fizzled Out..
This past fall saw clarity emerge when former leader Blaine revealed his thoughts surrounding whether he believed anyone affiliated could step forward comfortably without being scrutinized closely due pivotal events leading up prior elections last time around!” In March interviews conducted recently involving various groups such as Canadian Taxpayer Federation indicated something else entirely too suggesting strategies employed back then targeted gaining control over unfolding situation better than before. And so now we have conflicting narratives playing out between these individuals especially given how intertwined relationships became throughout everything mentioned thus far!
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