Cardy said he was not the only minister who had a problem with Prime Minister Blaine Higgs’ leadership style. “I know that’s certainly the experience of other people in cabinet, in other departments,” Cardy told Information Morning Fredericton. “There’s just pressure based on what the prime minister feels that day, preventing what he wants to happen in government.” In an interview later on Friday, Cardi said he hoped those ministers would think about how to register their objections. “All you really have in politics in the end is that you’ve won a seat, you’re there, you can make decisions. You have to decide where your values and principles align with the direction you’ve been given.” he said.
Cardy responds to Higgs’ comments about quitting
Dominic Cardy says he had decided before Blaine Higgs’ cabinet reshuffle that he would step down as education secretary “If you feel like you’re being pushed over the line, I hope others would take the steps they feel are appropriate.” Cardy made the comments Friday morning before the PC caucus met and voted to expel him. This means that he will now be an independent member of the legislature. “As a team we found your behavior and your actions, especially over the last few days, to be inexcusable,” Higgs said in a letter to Cardi released to the media. Cardi resigned on Thursday in a scathing two-page letter to Higgs accusing him of meddling in decisions, ignoring data and evidence and making impulsive decisions that he compared to “a wrecking ball.” He said the prime minister replaced elected health authority boards with appointed administrators in July without consulting his cabinet or caucus. Higgs took the same approach by deciding to fast-track a recommendation to eliminate French immersion by next September, Cardi said. “You have a prime minister who often talks about deliberately creating chaos as a way of catalyzing change. That may work in some contexts in the private sector, but it can be quite destructive in the public sector.” Cardy says some cabinet members agree with him. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) Higgs acknowledged Thursday that he was looking for quick action on those issues. He told reporters that he informed Cardy in a meeting that he would be ousting him from the cabinet and that Cardy had already drafted a letter of resignation. But Cardy disputed that version of events on Friday morning, saying he took the initiative to quit in his meeting with the prime minister. “I said ‘I think it’s time to part ways,’” Cardy said. Higgs’ letter to Cardi expelling him from the PC caucus called the letter “vindictive and misleading”. The former minister, a former provincial NDP leader who was first elected as a Progressive Conservative MLA in 2018, confirmed Higgs’ claim that he has threatened to resign from cabinet several times in the past. Each time, Cardy said, he managed to get the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues to “move in my direction” enough to remain in cabinet. He said on Friday before the caucus vote on his ouster that he had no plans to resign his seat and would remain an MLA and vote in a manner consistent with the party’s philosophy. Higgs said Thursday he will ask the PC caucus in the legislature to oust Cardy, which would force him to sit as an independent MLA. Cardy said he wants the chance to make a case for staying in the caucus and hopes any vote to oust him will be by secret ballot. “It’s not normally the prime minister’s prerogative to make these calls,” he said. Liberal leader Susan Holt says there is no place for Cardi in her party. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) Expelled or not, he said he has no intention of resigning his seat before the next election and will support legislation from the Higgs government that complies with its campaign promises. “I was elected as the PC MLA for Fredericton West-Hanwell and will continue to do my job based on that,” Cardy said. “I will continue to sit and represent the values and platform I was elected to implement and vote accordingly. I have no plans to go anywhere.” He said he would not run for the PC leadership if Higgs retires and was not interested in running for the federal Conservatives. He has also ruled out joining the Liberal or Green caucuses, saying he opposes floor crossing in principle. Liberal leader Susan Holt tweeted on Friday morning that her party would not welcome Cardy even if he was interested. “We discussed it as a caucus and agreed it was not something we would pursue,” he said. David Kuhn, leader of the Green Party, says that if sitting MPs want to join the Greens, they should stand down and stand as a Green candidate in a by-election. (Mrinali Anchan/CBC) And Green Party leader David Coon said the only way a sitting MLA could join the Greens would be to resign and stand as a Green candidate in a by-election. Whatever his position in the legislature, Cardy said now that he is free from the requirement for cabinet solidarity, he will continue to raise concerns about Higgs. “Clearly there’s a much wider world outside the four walls of this building, and as an elected official, it’s my job to talk about public policy and issues and my perspective on them,” he said. “MLAs are elected to use their judgment to analyze the issues of the day and I will continue to do that in my new role in the same way I did in my old role.”
