Cardy announced in a tweet that he is stepping down from Premier Blaine Higgs’ cabinet but will remain as the Progressive Conservative MLA for Fredericton West-Hanwell. In a scathing resignation letter to Higgs, Cardy criticized the prime minister’s leadership style, saying “change requires attention, not a wrecking ball” and some reforms to French second language education “will stall because of your micromanagement”. “You cannot change deadlines in large systems based on your emotional state without undermining the quality of your work or the morale of your team,” the letter said. “Government is not the same as building oil tankers,” Cardy wrote, apparently referring to the prime minister’s previous career with Irving Oil. He also accuses Higgs of “choosing to yell ‘data my ass’ at a senior civil servant” because he didn’t like what the department’s numbers showed. Prime Minister Blaine Higgs speaks to reporters on Thursday following the sudden resignation of Dominic Cardy as education minister. (Shane Fowler/CBC) “That was the end of your political plan in my eyes: If you reject the evidence because you don’t like it, then you don’t believe the evidence,” he wrote. Cardy also said Higgs’ abolition of partially elected regional health authorities represented “a firm consolidation of power in your hands” and that he was trying to delay or undermine reconciliation between language communities and with indigenous peoples. Higgs told reporters he was “disappointed” with the letter and her “hurtful” comments. But he confirmed he said “data my ass” when Cardy and his department presented him with what he considered “irrelevant” numbers on French second language education. “Yes, I did,” he said. “The numbers didn’t reflect any real value in the information we were trying to understand: ‘are we getting better?’” He questioned that he was making decisions based on emotion. The prime minister said he met with Cardy on Thursday morning and told him he was to be removed from the cabinet because of a lack of progress on improving the education system. Dominic Cardy’s resignation letter to Blaine Higgs criticizes his leadership style and some of his decisions. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) At that point, Cardy presented her resignation letter. The fact that it had already been drafted suggests it was “part of an orchestrated plan,” Higgs said. Cardy did not respond to a request for an interview. The resignation letter said Higgs has a plan to “phase out” French immersion by September 2023, which was suggested by an independent review of the program earlier this year. Cardy said the exemption from the program was not in the government’s election platform or throne speech and has not been approved by cabinet or the PC caucus. Eliminating it “would place enormous stress on the education system and harm the education of our province’s English-speaking youth,” he wrote. Higgs has confirmed that he plans to move on this next fall. He said that given Cardy’s letter, which he called “quite a list of criticisms,” he would likely ask the PC team to expel him, which would leave him sitting as an independent MLA. The next caucus meeting will be held soon, Higgs said. Prime Minister Blaine Higgs speaks to reporters about Dominic Cardy’s resignation and cabinet reshuffle. (Shane Fowler/CBC) “I will not delay it. I feel there is only one decision to be made and my recommendation will be to expel him from the caucus.” Higgs made the comments after shuffling his cabinet on Thursday evening. He appointed Carleton MLA Bill Hogan to replace Cardy as education minister. Former People’s Alliance leader Kris Austin, who moved to PCs in March, is taking over Hogan’s role as public safety minister. Jill Green becomes Minister of Services New Brunswick and Housing, replacing Mary Wilson, who was fired by cabinet. Jeff Carr replaced Green as Transport and Infrastructure Minister, while Réjean Savoie, who was re-elected in June, becomes Regional Development Corporation Minister. Liberal leader Susan Holt said criticism of Cardy’s letter “seems to reflect what we’ve been hearing from others and reflects some of the concerns we’ve had about this government and its approach to leadership”. Cardy, the former leader of the New Brunswick NDP, joined PC in 2017 as an adviser to Higgs and ran for the Tories in the 2018 election. At the time Cardy switched parties, Higgs said they were “straight up on so many issues” but acknowledged they wouldn’t see eye to eye on everything. As part of the cabinet reshuffle announced on Thursday, Kris Austin and Réjean Savoie become cabinet ministers. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) “I want people who will bring ideas and take action to the team,” Higgs said. “We can deal with any minor issues that come up because I do that every day with everyone.” In 2020, Cardy failed to win enough support from the PC caucus to pass a bill that would have eliminated philosophical and religious exemptions from the mandatory school-age vaccination policy. And last year, he criticized the government’s ban on provincial officials handing out Indigenous land recognitions at public events, saying it “added an unnecessary conflict that creates confusion and justified anger toward our government.” Cardy has also been a strong supporter of the Center Ice Canadians, a group of moderate conservatives who have criticized federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick issued a statement Thursday calling on other PC ministers to resign along with Cardy. “It is more evident than ever that your leader is not operating within the fundamental principles of good governance, nor the goals and principles of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick,” the statement said. “Stop standing by and allowing a single person to do such harmful practices. Indigenous people and New Brunswickers are closely watching and applauding the winds of change.”
