Dominic Cardy resigned as New Brunswick’s Education and Early Childhood Development Minister after penning a highly-critical letter to Premier Blaine Higgs.
“Change requires care,” Cardy wrote in the scathing letter, “not a wrecking ball.”
Cardy also told Higgs some French second-language education reforms will “stall because of your micromanagement.”
Cardy, who said he will stay on as the PC MLA for Fredericton West-Hanwell, accused Higgs of “choosing to yell ‘data my ass’ at a senior civil servant” because he didn’t like what the department’s numbers showed. Cardy said Higgs has a plan to “abolish” French immersion by September 2023. That was also the recommendation after an independent program review that was completed in early 2022.
Cardy’s criticism didn’t stop at education. He also slammed Higg’s abolishment of elected regional health authority board members, saying his actions contributed to “a steady consolidation of power in your hands.”
He also accused the premier of delaying and, in some cases, undermining reconciliation with the province’s Indigenous communities.
Cardy is a former leader of the provincial NDP. He joined the Higgs Progressive Conservative team in 2017, acting as an advisor, and won a Tory seat in the provincial election the following year.
Carleton MLA Bill Hogan takes over education file
Shortly after Cardy’s resignation, the premier’s office announced there would be a swearing-in ceremony for the new members of the Executive Council.
Changes include Carleton MLA Bill Hogan becoming the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. The move is a better fit for Hogan, whose entire career before politics was in education, working as a teacher and, later, as a school administrator and principal before running for MLA.
Hogan’s Public Safety portfolio will be taken over by former People’s Alliance of New Brunswick party leader, now Progressive Conservative, Kris Austin.
Other cabinet changes include Jeff Carr as Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Gary Crossman will now take over the Environment and Climate Change portfolio, Réjean Savoie has been named the Minister Responsible for the Regional Development Corporation, and Jill Green will be the Minister for Service New Brunswick, and the Minister responsible for Housing.
