Onetime Liberal cabinet minister hits comeback trail with bid for party leadership

Former Liberal cabinet minister Donald Arseneault is launching a campaign for the party leadership, arguing his 14 years of experience as a provincial MLA and cabinet minister is an asset.

Arseneault says his time in office, including two stints in cabinet under two Liberal premiers, will be an advantage against other, less experienced leadership candidates.

"I understand that some people look at me like I've been around for a bit," he said. "But I want to take that as a positive, because I know how to get things done. I've done it and I've got good experience with it."

Arseneault said however he's surrounding himself with "fresh faces," because there are many New Brunswickers "who've never really got involved but who've got great ideas. They don't know how to maybe bring it to the next step. I can make that happen."

Former federal Liberal MP T.J. Harvey is the only other officially declared candidate in the race so far. Harvey served one term as MP for Tobique-Mactaquac before leaving politics.

Campaign marks return to politics after controversy

Arseneault's entry represents a comeback four years after he quit the legislature during a conflict-of-interest controversy.  

He resigned a year ahead of his planned retirement after it was revealed he was taking a part-time job as a trade union lobbyist in Ottawa while planning to continue as an MLA.

That didn't violate New Brunswick's lax conflict-of-interest rules, but the opposition argued it created a "perceived" conflict. Then-PC Opposition leader Blaine Higgs called the affair "an example of politics at its worst."

Premier Brian Gallant eventually said the same thing and insisted Arseneault either quit the new job or resign his seat.

Arseneault pointed out Thursday that the conflict of interest commissioner at the time "gave me the okay and that was made public as well."

"Unfortunately in politics, politics is perception. They made an issue in the legislature and I decided at that time I didn't want to take attention away from the real issues we had to deal with at the time." 

History in N.B. politics

Arseneault was first elected in 2003 and quickly became known for his combative and partisan style.

He was part of the Shawn Graham cabinet that tried to sell NB Power to Hydro-Quebec and that awarded $50 million in loans and loan guarantees to the Atcon group of companies.

In 2015, back in power under Gallant, Arseneault resisted calls for more funding for a new investigation by Auditor-General Kim MacPherson into Atcon.

"She can do more work with the resources she has within her budget," he said.

Competition against former federal Liberal M.P.

Harvey, who announced his leadership campaign in June, called Arseneault a friend and welcomed him into the race.

But he contrasted his own private sector experience and a single four-year term in the House of Commons with Arseneault's long tenure in the legislature.

"Everybody brings different qualities to a leadership race and certainly my qualities are informed by my life experiences and my work in the private sector, in agriculture, in transportation and in processing and manufacturing," he said.

"Don's absolutely right, he was a sitting MLA and minister under Shawn Graham's government and Brian Gallant's government. He brings a lot of experiences based on his time in office and I think his record speaks for itself."

Harvey declined to characterize that record, but said his own approach in government would be more inclusive than Graham and Gallant had been as premiers.

During the 2017 controversy over his part-time lobbying job, he revealed he'd held a paying position with the same union from 2010 to 2014, when he was an opposition MLA.

That income was not listed on Arseneault's public conflict declaration forms during that period. Members list other employment under a section called "financial and business interests."

Arseneault helped run the 2020 provincial Liberal campaign that saw Premier Blaine Higgs turn his minority government into a majority in the legislature.

Looking to better provincial government

He said Thursday voters were happy with how Higgs and Dr. Jennifer Russell had managed the COVID-19 pandemic and "they didn't want to take a chance to change government at that time. We felt that."

Now he says Higgs has divided the province, alienating Indigenous people and front-line health-care workers. He accused the premier of using federal transfers meant for COVID relief and health care to pad his budget surpluses.

"Here's a man and a government that has a calculator where their heart should be," he said.

Arseneault said he'll focus on "people, families and the economy" if he becomes premier and said affordable housing, soaring property assessments and other cost-of-living issues will be part of his agenda.

The provincial Liberals haven't set a date yet for the leadership vote.