Bernard Lord criticizes Brian Gallant's shale gas moratorium

Former Progressive Conservative premier Bernard Lord believes premier-designate Brian Gallant’s shale gas moratorium will only last 12 to 18 months before it is lifted.

Lord told CBC News on Monday that he believes the incoming Liberal government will soon realize it needs to embrace shale gas development, despite its opposition during this month’s election campaign.

“I suspect that once they have raised taxes once or twice and spent the extra money they said they want to spend, reality is going to hit and they will look at natural gas differently,” Lord said on Information Morning Moncton on Monday.

“And I wouldn’t be surprised if the moratorium that has been promised will not last more than 18 months.”

Gallant’s Liberals won 27 seats compared to 21 Progressive Conservatives and a single seat for the Green party.

On Wednesday, Gallant told reporters that he intends to keep his promise on a shale gas moratorium and he said he’s willing to sit with the companies that will be affected by the commitment.

The platform says the process will not be allowed unless extensive public consultations are held and the mining process can avoid “unacceptable risks to the environment, health and water.”

The former New Brunswick premier also said Gallant will have to contend with a legislature that is now divided down linguistic and regional lines.

“The split between the anglophone voters and the francophone voters is as if there were two elections. On the anglophone side, David Alward won and he won a large majority of seats but on the francophone side, it was almost a complete sweep of Brian Gallant and the Liberals,” Lord said.

Gallant, as a university student, ran unsuccessfully against Lord in the riding of Moncton East in the 2006 election campaign. 

Lord is now the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.

Alward 'open and very honest'

Lord recruited Alward to run for the Progressive Conservatives in the 1999 election. After Alward's re-election in 2003, Lord appointed him as minister of agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture.

Lord congratulated Alward’s decision to focus his entire campaign on a message of creating jobs through the development of a shale gas industry, even though that campaign ultimately failed to win the Tories re-election.

“He was very open and very honest in his campaign. It worked very well, just not everywhere in the province,” Lord said.

“It just did not resonate with francophone voters on the northeast part of the province and northern province.”

Lord pointed to interviews on CBC where Gallant made errors on his tax policy and then had to apologize. He said those mistakes were not noticed in francophone New Brunswick.

Edmundston-Madawaska Centre’s MLA Madeleine Dubé was the only francophone elected by the Progressive Conservatives.

Gallant will be sworn in as premier on Oct. 7.