Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions April 7, 2016 [Original] Legislation Mr. Fitch: Yesterday, the Premier had a chance to score a hat trick. He sent Bills 26 and 27 to the law amendments committee, and we gave him a chance to send Bill 24, the omnibus bill, to law amendments as well. It is too bad that he did not seize the day yesterday.

However, maybe the Premier is concerned about giving the opposition another victory or, more importantly, giving the people of New Brunswick and the media another victory, by having the Premier change his mind. The point of the matter is that I know that they had a Cabinet meeting last night. I will give the Premier an opportunity to stand up today and do the right thing. Do a redo, and send Bill 24. Break it up into separate bills. Stay in the House, and we will work and examine them all, or send it to the law amendments committee and score the perfect hat trick. [Translation] Hon. Mr.

Gallant: There was no Cabinet meeting last night; I do not know why the Leader of the Opposition wants to talk about our schedule. If he wants to know, I can tell him that our meeting was this morning. I do not know what the Leader of the Opposition is getting at, but his statements show that he likes to say certain things even though he is not sure they are true. We have very clearly said that we consulted New Brunswickers very comprehensively. We consulted them for over a year before implementing the recommendations from the Strategic Program Review, in the budget that was tabled a few weeks ago.

Our last budget is very important for New Brunswickers. In fact, it aims to help the province invest in the priorities of New Brunswickers, which are job creation, health, and education. We will continue to consult and listen to New Brunswickers, and we will continue to move our province forward. [Original] Mr. Fitch: That is interesting, Mr. Premier, because a number of ministers, last night, were at a reception at the Crowne Plaza and they told me directly that they were going to a Cabinet meeting. Maybe they are having Cabinet meetings without you, Mr. Premier, trying to get something done. Mr.

Premier, again, I think that your ministers, when they are out in public, have to be very careful about what they are saying because it will come back to them.

Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions This is an opportunity again. They are getting slammed on the seniors’ asset grab. They are taking a beating over a number of things. Even the bookmobile is coming back as a topic because it was only $140 000 and the Cabinet and the Premier are out talking about their $1- billion that they are going to spend. Why can they not go back and revisit the bookmobile? They are getting beat up over that.

Again, will the Premier take the opportunity today, whether the Cabinet meeting was last night or this morning, and split Bill 24, stay in the House and work on it, or send it to the law amendments committee? [Translation] Hon. Mr. Gallant: Are the questions asked this morning really relevant? Indeed, a Cabinet committee meeting was held yesterday. I certainly want to clarify this point for the Leader of the Opposition, since it seems really important to him to know the Cabinet schedule. So, a Cabinet committee meeting was held last night. This morning, the Cabinet met.

We had a meeting this morning which lasted from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. I think it is probably important for the Leader of the Opposition to be notified of that. The Leader of the Opposition also mentioned education. We are very proud to have created the Education and New Economy Fund. We are very proud of it, since this fund will help us invest in innovation and make important, historical investments in education. We are very proud of it, since this fund will help us make sure that postsecondary education is more affordable and accessible than ever before, here in New Brunswick. [Original] Mr.

Fitch: Thank you very much, Mr. Premier, for clearing that up. Again, the reason I mentioned the Cabinet

schedule is that this is, in fact, an important issue. It is an important issue for the people of the province. The government has cobbled together the omnibus bill and put “Strategic Program Review” across the front of it. There are so many things in there that need to be discussed and that are offensive to various groups here in New Brunswick, students included. When they look at the opportunities going forward, if collective bargaining is taken out as an option, that may affect fair wages in the future for various groups that they may be wanting to work for. Again, I will give the Premier one more chance. The

schedule is such that we will be off for the next couple of weeks before the committees reconvene and before the House comes back in May. I am trying to give the Premier an opportunity to stop getting beat up in public by doing the right thing and taking this bill to the law amendments committee or staying here, breaking it up, and having a good discussion on it. Will the Premier do that today? Yes or no?

Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions [Translation] Hon. Mr. Gallant: I was patient the first time, but the member opposite is addressing me directly for the fourth time. We try to respect the Standing Rules here in the House. We are supposed to go through you, Mr. Speaker. I am therefore asking the Leader of the Opposition to respect the Standing Rules. I want to reiterate our commitment to education here in New Brunswick.

We are going to make historic investments in education, whether they be in early childhood, kindergarten to Grade 12 education, or postsecondary education. [Original] We are also going to invest to make sure that we are helping people to gain extra skills and upgrade their qualifications so that we will have the best skilled workforce here in New Brunswick that we can possibly have. When it comes to the Strategic Program Review bill, if you will, we consulted thousands of New Brunswickers for months and months—over a year, so there are no surprises in this.

We are willing, of course, to debate this on the floor of the Legislature, so, if the leader has specific concerns, I would ask him to raise them now. Tobacco Mr. Fitch: It seems the Premier is thin-skinned about the way I am asking my questions today, so I will give him a break. I would like to go to the Deputy Premier and ask him a couple of questions, though. Yesterday, he said that three of the members of the new cigarette police were retired or about to retire from his former place of work. Let me be clear.

I would never presume to question the knowledge, the professionalism, the integrity, or the experience of those people. I will leave that for the Gallant government. I would like to ask the minister this: Of these three people, how many did he personally work closely with, and for how many of these three that he has hired did he personally intervene to make sure that they were hired for his cigarette squad? Hon. Mr. Horsman: It is an honour to get up and answer these questions because, as of yesterday, the members opposite have had no respect at all for this. It is a shame that they said that we were flat-footed.

Well, they must have had their feet in concrete. They have done nothing. This is the Contraband Enforcement Unit. It is not a million-dollar cigarette club or whatever the member opposite states. I do not know whether or not I have met these people during a 25- year policing career. We live in a small province. I never say that negatively. I think that it is a positive thing.

Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions (Interjections.) Mr. Speaker: Order. Hon. Mr. Horsman: I worked with many police officers throughout this province, and I hope that I had a chance to meet the people who are being hired. I would also like to welcome the people from the Atlantic Police Academy who never got a position in policing. We want to welcome them to New Brunswick. They are staying in the province, and they are going to be hired. These were personal service contracts. They were not permanent positions.

I welcome them, and they are going to do a good job for this province. Mr. Fitch: The Liberal platform talked about ending the practice of noncompetitive hiring for permanent positions in the public service. Is the Deputy Premier now saying that he circumvented that platform commitment by putting a personal contract in there? If that is the case, did he personally intervene to make sure that the people in his former workplace got the top three positions on this force? Would the minister please stand up and clarify that today? He may not have his feet in concrete—his feet are in sinking sand right now. Hon. Mr.

Horsman: As far as I am concerned, the respect shown to all our first responders is not being met by the members opposite. They call us the cigarette police or the million-dollar… This is the contraband unit. If they showed respect for the first responders—these people are going to do great work for our province—they would at least mention their name properly. Referring to the member’s first question, I knew Gary Forward from the Fredericton police force and so did the member for Carleton-York. I am surprised that he has not stood up and said anything about the good work that Mr.

Forward has done with the Fredericton police force and the good work that he will probably do for our province. I want to welcome these people. They are going to do great things. This is a public issue. It is going to be a public safety issue for the people of this province. People need to know that, when they are purchasing contraband tobacco, part of that money is going back into organized crime. We do not want that to happen here. It is also a public safety issue, so I want to make sure that… Mr. Speaker: Time. Mr. Fitch: The minister is clarifying some of the statements that he has made.

First, he did not meet them. Then he knew them. Now, he knows their names. Again, I want the minister to be very specific. It is important for his integrity and the integrity of his government. Did the minister use a personal service contract to circumvent the public hiring, the public competition, for these positions? Did he go around the rules in order to get his friends, the

Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions people that he worked with, hired? Did the minister hire the head of this force and circumvent a public competition for this job? Yes or no. Hon. Mr. Horsman: Every chance I get to stand in this House and thank the first responders and what they do in our province, I will do that. I will continue to do that, unlike the former minister from the other government. As a minister, he should have spoken with the former Minister of Public Safety.

He knows that the minister is not responsible for any hiring whatsoever. That should stop that line of questioning. Again, to be respectful to this unit, I have the utmost respect. Its members have been training hard for the past two weeks, and they are going to do a good job for our province in stopping contraband tobacco from going through our province. Again, I want to reiterate that, as a minister, I do not have any qualms whatsoever—or any role or involvement in hiring. These are personal contract services. They are not permanent employees.

The only two permanent employees came from within the Department of Public Safety, from another unit. (Interjections.) Mr. Speaker: Order. Hon. Mr. Horsman: Again, the expertise that we are bringing to this unit, the youth and enthusiasm that is going to come to help our province… (Interjections.) [Translati