Liberals ramp up attack ads against Blaine Higgs — but how accurate are they?

Seeing a lot of Blaine Higgs lately?

You're not alone, and you can thank Premier Brian Gallant's Liberal Party.

But you may want to take what you're told with a grain of salt.

The party has resumed its blitz of attack ads against the Progressive Conservative leader, a barrage it began April 26 and then paused during the St. John River flood.

The Liberal-created website, "Not for You," catalogs Higgs' supposed positions on a number of issues, casting him as a supporter of big business who opposes Liberal policies to help ordinary New Brunswickers.

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The site first went up last year, but it's been busy lately.

Ads linking to it have recently appeared online in locations ranging from Politico, a website about U.S. politics, to Ellen DeGeneres videos on Facebook. The ads are placed there by a service that aims them at internet users in New Brunswick.

Gallant defended the attack ads Thursday.

"We believe there's a clear contrast between our vision for the province and the Blaine Higgs and Conservative vision for the province," he said in Moncton.

But the content of the ads often distort or exaggerate Higgs' positions. The PC leader calls them "poor at best and pitiful at worst. … I hope people actually look a little deeper at the facts."

Minimum wage

The site says Higgs "is against increasing the minimum wage."

The evidence? A 2011 statement when Higgs was finance minister. He floated the idea of a two-tier minimum wage, with a lower rate for employees under the age of 18.

That's not the same as opposing an increase. In fact the minimum wage rose twice while Higgs was finance minister, to $9.50 in 2011 and to $10 in 2012.

The Liberal attack site doesn't mention that.

Both increases were scheduled by the previous Liberal government, and the PC government postponed the second increase by six months to study the minimum-wage issue. But it eventually did happen.

Higgs has argued there should be a binding formula that determines increases based on cost of living, to avoid politicians timing the hikes for political benefit. He repeated that in an interview Thursday.

The Liberals passed a law that says the minister responsible must "consider" the cost of living, but the PC leader says that's not good enough.

"It's not a matter of 'looking at,' it's defining a formula that says this is how minimum wage will be managed going forward."

Teachers

The Liberal attack site also claims Higgs is "against hiring more teachers."

That's based on comments he made last spring about something different: a Liberal guarantee to maintain a minimum number of teachers.

The province signed a new five-year contract with the teachers' union that said the number of teachers in the province can't fall below 7,280 over the life of the agreement.

That means the government would not be able to lay off teachers to reduce the numbers, even if the trend of declining enrolment continues and fewer teachers are needed.

Though he questioned the guarantee, Higgs did not say he was against it. He accused the Liberals of appeasing the union ahead of an election, and said he did not see "any connection" between the guarantee and better education results.

New holiday

The Liberal site says the PC opposition "was even against adding the Family Day holiday," a new statutory holiday that was added to the calendar this year.

Higgs did question how the Liberals decided to create the new February holiday, suggesting they were trying to distract voters from their property-assessment controversy.

PC MLAs voted against the bill at first reading, and several criticized the idea, but when it came up for a final vote last May, they did not vote against it.

"Our role is to question government actions," Higgs said. "I never spoke against Family Day at any point in time … If we were going to oppose it, we would have stood up and opposed it, or we would have called for a standing vote."

Canaport LNG

The Liberals also criticize Higgs for supporting the municipal tax break for Canaport LNG in 2005, five years before he got involved in politics. At the time, Higgs was an executive at Irving Oil, a partner in the facility.

Initially, the Liberals claimed Higgs negotiated the tax break, but when that was proven false, they switched to arguing he supported it.

The Not For You site includes an image of an Irving Oil newspaper ad from 2005 promoting the tax deal, signed by four company executives including Higgs.

Higgs says he signed the ad because "it was in support of the whole project," though the ad is clearly designed to defend the tax deal.

But the PC leader also promised in March 2017 that as premier, he would design "a fair and equitable taxation plan where every corporation, including Irving Oil, pays their fair share."

And Higgs says the Liberal criticism is hypocritical because after they repealed the tax break in 2016 — a move he supported — they handed their own gift to Irving Oil with a reassessment of the LNG plant's property value. It reduced the tax bill by two-thirds.

Election timing

The ad blitz comes less than three months before the start of the provincial election campaign.

The Liberals have had a healthy lead in public opinion polling by Corporate Research Associates, though Higgs has recruited some star candidates since the last survey who could put key ridings in play.

The turmoil from harassment allegations against Speaker Chris Collins could help the PCs in Moncton Centre. Collins has not ruled out running as an independent candidate in the riding, which could split the vote in what has been considered a safe Liberal seat.

The PCs have been using social media to respond to some of the attacks, though Higgs recognizes that may play into the Liberals' hands.

"If I was sitting in the premier's office and I was saying 'how do I take the focus off my record — because it's really bad and I don't want people to follow that — well, I'll attack the opposition, I'll attack my opponent, I'll try to discredit him in any way possible," he said.

"I'm very proud of my record over time and I'll sit down and talk with anybody about any of the details, but I just encourage people to look at all the facts."