Agree to disagree: Gallant, Higgs won't work together to form coalition government

Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs agrees with Liberal Premier Brian Gallant on at least one thing: their two parties won't be working together to form a coalition government.

Higgs rejected the idea put forward by former PC cabinet minister and MP Bud Bird, who urged him and Gallant to work together in the wake of an election that gave neither party a majority.

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Combined, the two parties won 69.7 per cent of the popular vote in the Sept. 24 election. Their caucuses together hold 43 of 49 seats in the legislature.

But Higgs said forming a coalition with the Liberals would be unfair to two smaller parties, the People's Alliance and the Greens, that won three seats each.

"People aren't expecting the Liberals and Conservatives to form any sort of partnership," Higgs said. "They've elected two other parties that cannot and should not be shut out of this process.

"I don't think it's the right thing to do, democratically, to have any sort of agreement between the Liberals and Conservatives. I think we get in the house, we let the process unfold, we have the throne speech and we vote on it."

Bird said in his Oct. 2 letter to the two leaders that they should explore working together to give the province a stable, moderate government for four years.

The idea has been endorsed on social media by, among others, former NDP leader Elizabeth Weir and Dallas McCready, a former deputy minister to former PC premier David Alward.

'Fundamental differences'

The Liberals won 21 seats in September's vote and the PCs won 22. But Gallant is relying on parliamentary rules to call back the legislature, present a throne speech and seek to win a confidence vote on the speech that would allow him to stay in power.

To do so, he would need the votes of at least one, if not both, of the two smaller parties. Gallant said Tuesday there were too many "fundamental differences" between the Liberals and the PCs to contemplate a power-sharing agreement.

Higgs said the mechanics of two parties working together in government seemed unworkable. 

"I can't imagine the practicality of such a model," he said. "There has to be somebody who, through the process, ends up being the government."

He said his preference if he becomes premier will be to deal with the other three parties to win support for legislation one bill at a time. 

Higgs spoke to reporters Wednesday after a 30-minute meeting with Gallant. The Liberal premier said he wants to meet all three other party leaders to get their ideas for what should be in the throne speech.

Gallant said the "vast majority" of proposals in the speech will be ideas supported by at least two political parties.

Higgs said the meeting was "pleasant," but he also called it "more of a public relations exercise than anything else."

Gallant disputed that and hinted to reporters that Higgs had not been "polite and cordial" but would not reveal what was said.

"Maybe you can ask Mr. Higgs if he wants to divulge some of the niceties he went through during the discussion, because I certainly missed them," he said.

The PC leader said he and his fellow Tory MLAs will vote against the motion to support the speech, regardless of what it contains.

"It's not about the throne speech," he said. "This is about the last four years of a government that has failed our province. ... It doesn't matter what the throne speech says."

Bad blood

Higgs also acknowledged that part of his hesitation about co-operating with the Liberals comes from the barrage of attack advertising they unleashed on him during the campaign.

"I don't stay awake at night being overly hurt by it, but it's a sad commentary on how one chooses to get elected," he said. "They went well beyond any reasonable approach of trying to make an assessment of an individual.

"To me, it says a lot about character. It says a lot about who you can trust and what the motive is. So for me, personally, it's a hurdle to cross, but you look beyond those things at a time like this."

Gallant told reporters Wednesday that he was consulting other party leaders because voters sent a message on election day that the two mainstream parties have not co-operated enough over the years.

"We have to humbly admit that we weren't doing enough of it," he said. "I will act to make sure we learn from our mistakes."

Higgs said he has met with all of his MLAs to interview them for potential cabinet positions. If the Liberals lose the Nov. 2 confidence vote, New Brunswick Lt-Gov. Jocelyne Roy Vienneau will call on Higgs to form a government and seek the confidence of the legislature.

Search for a speaker

But MLAs have to elect a speaker before the house can conduct any business, and both Gallant and Higgs say they won't offer one of their own members to hold the position.

The standings in the legislature are so close that neither party can afford to give up one member to become speaker. The speaker only votes when there are ties.

Gallant said Tuesday that offering a Liberal MLA to be speaker would make governing "a little bit more complicated."

Higgs said Wednesday he's willing to have a PC member become speaker — but only after his party gets to take power. 

He said with one more MLA than the Liberals, the PCs could govern more effectively even with one of their members out of the mix. 

"I can put a speaker forward and I can still be in a position to effectively win the throne speech," he said.