Liberal leader rejects Green MLA's fraud allegation in 2022 leadership race

The leader of New Brunswick's Liberal Party says she's seen no evidence to support a claim that residents of two nursing homes were signed up to vote in the 2022 party leadership race without their knowledge or against their will.

That's the allegation made by Green MLA Kevin Arseneau, who says he has evidence that he filed last week as part of a complaint with the province's seniors' advocate.

But Susan Holt told reporters that supporters of one of her leadership rivals did sign up residents of the two Bathurst-area homes, she is not aware that any were registered unknowingly.

"No, I don't know of any," she said. 

Minutes after her comments, Holt approached Arseneau in the rotunda of the legislature asking him to supply her with the evidence he says he has.

He refused, saying he got his information from conversations with residents and suggested Holt go speak to them herself.

Arseneau said last week that his own grandmother, who has dementia, is a resident of one of the two homes.

The Green MLA said in the legislature last week that 28 out of 30 residents of one Bathurst-area nursing home had been signed up as Liberals, as were 25 out of 30 residents of a second home belonging to the same owner. 

He called it "a suspected case of fraud and abuse."

The two homes are both known as Chez Annie. One is in Bathurst and one is in nearby Robertville.

Arseneau said he asked the advocate to investigate what happened and accused the Liberals of having known about the issue since 2022 without acting on it.

The co-owner of the two nursing homes, Steven Sisk, told CBC News that he was approached by a supporter of leadership candidate Donald Arseneault to invite residents to join the party to vote for its new leader.

"I checked if there was any interest in taking part in that on the part of residents, and by popular demand, yes, I guess they were very interested," Sisk said.

"Everyone who was enrolled consented to it."