Fallout over N.B. tourism minister's ouster continues

The Liberal government is dealing with fallout from Stuart Jamieson's resignation over his refusal to support the proposed NB Power sale agreement without a referendum.

Premier Shawn Graham asked Jamieson to resign on Friday night after the two were unable to reconcile their differences on the contentious energy pact with Quebec.

Business New Brunswick Minister Victor Boudreau told reporters in Moncton on Monday that he was disappointed by Jamieson's decision to step down from cabinet.

Boudreau tried to downplay the rift within the Liberal cabinet and said he hopes people will see the benefits of the $3.2-billion power deal.

"I hope we can put this [controversy over the] agreement behind us and people will see the benefits of this agreement," Boudreau said.

"They will see the sky is not going to fall, that their lights will continue to go on in the morning."

Graham continued to claim Monday that all his MLAs are solidly behind the deal.

"Our caucus and cabinet are fully committed to moving this initiative forward. I recognize today that it’s a difficult file for many MLAs,"  the premier said in Bathurst.

Just three weeks ago, before Jamieson’s departure, Graham also insisted that his MLAs were united in support of the deal.

"The government is united on this agreement," he said then.

Under the proposed energy transaction, several NB Power assets, including the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station, the province's hydro-electric dams and two other smaller generation units, will be sold to Hydro-Québec. In turn, the Quebec utility will freeze residential power rates for five years and cut the rates of large industrial customers.

Jamieson was one of the five Liberal MLAs who told Graham at a caucus meeting in January that he could not support the original $4.8-billion power deal.

Only a few days later, the Graham government announced the scaled back version of the NB Power deal.

When that agreement was announced, Graham said his caucus unanimously supported it.

3 cabinet resignations

Although Jamieson is the first Liberal cabinet minister to attribute his departure from Graham's inner circle to the NB Power deal, he is the third minister to quit in the last seven months.

Former justice minister Michael Murphy and former environment minister T.J. Burke have also left the Liberal cabinet.

Geoff Martin, a political scientist at Mount Allison University, said it appears with Jamieson's resignation that there is still dissent inside the Liberal caucus over the deal to sell parts of NB Power.

Graham said in a statement issued on Friday that Jamieson had to leave cabinet to uphold the principle of cabinet solidarity.

Martin said the premier is now trying an authoritarian approach and he said the strategy could backfire as MLAs who are ready to retire or fed up with not being heard might decide to come out publicly.

The other question, Martin said, is whether Graham will have the votes to pass the legislation necessary to sell parts of NB Power.

Martin said it's looking more and more like some Liberal members, including Jamieson. will vote against it.

The leader of New Brunswick's Green Party also believes there's a chance more Liberal defectors will kill the NB Power sale.

"These people are going to face their decisions at different points in time, and maybe they’ll be there," Jack MacDougall said Monday. "Maybe there’ll be a majority at the end of March, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there wasn’t."

Once Murphy gives up his seat and Rose-May Poirier officially takes her seat in the Senate, which are both expected later in February, the Liberals will have 32 seats compared to 21 Tories.

If Jamieson voted against a bill that allowed for the NB Power deal, another four Liberals would need to break ranks as well and vote against the legislation for it to be defeated.