Former minister says N.B. premier's response to her resignation 'says it all'

As Premier Blaine Higgs spoke in the legislature Thursday about his conviction that gender dysphoria has become "trendy," and increased acceptance of it is hurting kids and excluding parents, cabinet minister Dorothy Shephard got up and left the chamber.

She returned to vote with five of her colleagues for an opposition motion against Higgs's wishes.

Then she took her name plate off of her desk, put it in her purse and handed the Progressive Conservative premier a hand-written, two-sentence letter of resignation from her post as social development minister.

"He said, 'Well, it's good to get it in early,'" Shephard told Information Morning Saint John on Friday, the morning after the dramatic legislature sitting. 

That was his response, and I'll never forget it."

Shephard said Higgs's response "says it all" and may have indicated he was already considering a cabinet shuffle. 

"I don't believe he's used to people standing up to him, and I've certainly done that on a number of occasions these past couple of years," she said. "Maybe it's anger, maybe it's surprise. It's hard for me to to be in his shoes, so I can only speak to myself, but it was as disappointing as I thought it would be."

The premier's rhetoric about the review of the education policy meant to protect LGBTQ students — an issue she described as "mismanaged" — may have been the last straw for her, but she said it came after years of trying to work under Higgs's "difficult" leadership style.

Shephard is the third minister to resign from cabinet, the other two being former education minister Dominic Cardy, who now sits as an Independent, and former deputy premier Robert Gauvin, who now sits as a Liberal. 

Shephard said she's been struggling with his leadership style since the beginning — Higgs has been premier since 2018 — but especially since October 2021.

That month, she sent a six-page letter to Higgs airing her concerns about his unilateral decision-making. She said they didn't meet to talk about the letter until January, and even then, she didn't feel they got anywhere.

"I can't say that there was anything productive that came out of it," she said.

Shephard was health minister at the time, helping lead the province's COVID-19 response. CBC News has asked Shephard for a copy of the letter.

Shephard and Cardy both cited Higgs's unilateral decision-making and lack of consideration for other viewpoints as among their reasons for resigning from cabinet.