Holt's 'rookie cabinet' comes with pros and cons, UNB prof says

There are lots of new faces at the New Brunswick legislature, and first-time ministers make up the majority of the newly sworn-in Susan Holt cabinet.

J.P. Lewis, a professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, said this is a typical outcome when a party hasn't been in power for some time.

He said the real measure of a good minister, aside from experience, is how well they work with the permanent public service, which underpins each department, and how well they're able to communicate with the public and advocate for their portfolios.

"Are you a good communicator? [Are] you able to defend your department or portfolio area when it comes under some heat? Are you able to sell the government line on things?" he said. "You could come from a different background, and not have ever been in cabinet, and just be good at those things."

Lewis said there are only two former ministers in the 19-person cabinet — Robert Gauvin and Gilles LePage. The rest are either first-time ministers, or both first-time MLAs and first-time ministers.

He said the fact that so many of the Liberals were elected for the first time contributed to this outcome.

"If you're drawing from a caucus that has that many rookies, you're going to have a lot of rookies in cabinet, as well," he said.

There are six veteran Liberal MLAs who did not get a seat in cabinet. However, Holt says her caucus will support three of them for leadership positions in the house: Francine Landry as speaker, and Guy Arseneault and Benoît Bourque as deputy speakers.

Speak to permanent public servants

Some appointments just make sense, said Lewis, such as Dr. John Dornan being chosen as minister of health. Dornan, elected in Saint John Portland-Simonds, previously ran Horizon Health Network before he was fired by former premier Blaine Higgs.

Lewis said that even though Dornan has experience with the health-care system, his portfolio will likely be the most challenging one. He will have a lot to contend with, including difficulty in recruiting health-care providers, long wait times in emergency rooms, thousands without a primary care provider and challenges to mental health-care access.

In an interview with Information Morning Saint John, Dornan said his first point of action will be to connect with the deputy minister and get up to speed. He said the people who've spent their lives working in the system would likely have the best ideas.

"There's lots of good deputies and members of our department that have ideas that I will capitalize on," he said. "In my experience, I found that if you listen to people that have sound ideas, and put your shoulders behind it, you often bear fruit."

Information Morning - Saint John10:41Fixing health care in New Brunswick

John Dornan is the province's new minister of health.

He said he would start working on three collaborative-care clinics, expected to be open by 2025. The Holt government has said it plans to have 30 of those clinics in the province eventually.

"What we want to do is blanket New Brunswick in collaborative primary care so that nobody has a place they can't call home," Dornan said.

A Saint John-heavy cabinet

Lewis said Liberals have historically found it difficult to break into southern ridings in the Saint John area. But this election, they won almost every riding in the area, with Aaron Kennedy unseating former premier Blaine Higgs in Quispamsis.

The cabinet includes four people from the Saint John area, including Saint John Harbour MLA David Hickey as housing minister and Rothesay MLA Alyson Townsend as minister of post-secondary education, training and labour.

"Winning the Valley was a big deal, and she rewarded most of those folks," Lewis said.

Kennedy is now minister of local government and minister responsible for Service New Brunswick. He's served as a chief administrative officer for the town of Quispamsis since 2021, but has never been elected provincially.

Kennedy said he plans to listen to the municipalities when discussing any reform. He said he also plans on making property tax increases more fair.

"You need to have some balance that people can predict that and budget appropriately," he said.

He also said he plans to communicate with the federal government to advocate for his riding.

Possible pitfall

Lewis said one possible drawback of a rookie cabinet is when new ministers are learning the ropes, power could get centralized.

"Because there's so much reliance on the centre," he said. "If everyone's kind of learning, then they don't have their own ways of doing things."

He said that's not a guaranteed outcome, especially since Holt has criticized the former premier for top-down leadership, but is a risk.