PC rebels say majority of riding presidents support ousting Higgs

A movement to push Premier Blaine Higgs out as leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative party is gathering momentum.

A member of the party's provincial council says 25 presidents of PC riding associations have signed letters calling for a leadership review vote.

That's a majority out of the 49 ridings. It also surpasses a key threshold in the party's constitution to trigger the process.

"That number constitutes over 50 per cent of riding association presidents and I think it clearly shows there's a desire for a change of leadership amongst the membership," said John Williston, a regional vice-president of the party who supports the review.

"This is from every part of the province. … It's important that this reflects a wide scope of New Brunswick — anglophone, francophone, northern, southern. It shows unity among our party throughout the province." 

CBC News has seen and verified 22 of the letters, two more than the number required to advance the issue.

Jean-Pierre Ouellet, president of the Madawaska-Les Lacs-Edmundston riding association and one of the signatories, said Higgs has made too many decisions without consulting the public.

"It's 'my way or the highway,'" he said, pointing to an attempt to replace French immersion, legislation weakening the powers of anglophone district education councils and eliminating elected positions on regional health authority boards.

Surpassing the 20-letter threshold doesn't guarantee a membership vote on Higgs's leadership will be held.

The party constitution requires letters from 20 riding presidents, and 50 party members in total, for the party's provincial council — its governing body — to put the question on its agenda at its next meeting.

No more than five of the 50 members can be from any single riding.

Former party president Claude Williams told Radio-Canada's La Matinale on Wednesday morning that those 50 letters were also in hand.

"We have the numbers," Williams said. "If I were in his place, I'd retire." 

The council must vote by a two-thirds majority to schedule a convention within three months, where delegates would vote on whether to keep or remove Higgs.