MLAs criticize Liberals for vow to defeat government without clear health-care plan of their own

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New Brunswick Liberals are taking heat from other political parties for vowing to topple the government over the now-halted health-care reforms without having a public plan to solve staffing shortages plaguing the system.

Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers said this week his party will still try to force an election at the first opportunity — even after the Blaine Higgs Progressive Conservatives hit pause on plans to cut overnight emergency room services and convert acute-care beds to long-term care in six small-town hospitals.

The first opportunity will be March 10, when the PCs table the budget, and the Liberals have vowed to introduce a non-confidence motion.

"He's threatening an election on a budget that he hasn't seen over health-care changes put on pause, and he has no plan to do anything about it," People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin said on the latest edition of the CBC New Brunswick Political Panel podcast.

Austin said he couldn't support the changes as they are — the ER cuts, in particular — but he wants to see what's in the budget before deciding the future of the government.

He said people he's spoken with aren't in favour of another election.

"Nobody, other than Kevin Vickers and the Liberal Party, want an election right now," he said.

Liberal MLA Benoît Bourque said he's hearing otherwise after the "completely botched" rollout "undermined the credibility" of the government.

Bourque said the health-care system needs to be reformed, but when asked for the Liberal plan, the former health minister only pledged to better consult stakeholders.

"We need to put the data out there," Bourque told the panel. "We need to show people this needs to happen, something needs to happen, and the way we need to do it is involve all of the health-care professionals, all of the stakeholders and with that we'll come up with a plan."

Bourque was pressed to say whether or not a Liberal government would similarly cut ER services if those consultations show that's the best path forward.

He was non-committal, saying "there are too many ifs."

Before the reforms were halted, Vickers promised his government would reverse the changes. 

A 'power grab'

Green Leader David Coon also called on the Liberal leader to show his plan, describing his rhetoric as "old-style politics." 

Coon also urged the PCs to show the totality of their health-care vision rather than attempting to parcel out changes with the public in the dark.

Health Minister Ted Flemming described the Liberal actions as a "power grab," while maintaining his position the reforms are an appropriate route to address staffing and overcrowding challenges in New Brunswick hospitals.

He said it became clear the plan did not have legislative support and it would have been "irresponsible" to implement it, reposition staff and relocate patients with the possibility the Liberals would reverse the changes weeks later.

"It would have been too disruptive to the system to do that, even though it's for the betterment in the long term," Flemming said.