No agenda to weaken Greens with reduced caucus budget, Liberals say

Jacques Poitras · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 13, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

The Liberal government's House person says there's nary concealed docket to weaken the Green Party successful the New Brunswick legislature. 

Marco LeBlanc says a alteration to enactment caucus operating budgets that is forcing the Greens to laic disconnected 2 staffers is simply a reflection of past fall's predetermination results.

Former Green MLA Kevin Arseneau failed to triumph re-election, cutting the party's caucus from 3 members to two.

"We felt arsenic a committee that a caucus of 2 should not person the aforesaid magnitude of wealth arsenic a caucus of three," LeBlanc said.

"They've mislaid a 3rd of their caucus, and the numbers that you're going to spot successful the fund adjacent week are going to beryllium reflective of that." 

Green Leader David Coon is laying disconnected his property secretary, Jill Mersereau, and his enforcement assistant, Lindsay DeMerchant, astatine the extremity of the month.

The caller budget allocations for enactment caucuses were recently decided by the all-party legislative medication committee, which oversees the functioning of the assembly.

The Liberals person a bulk connected the committee, which meets successful secret.

That's wherefore Coon is not capable to speech astir circumstantial dollar figures until adjacent week's provincial fund is released.

But helium said losing the 2 staffers volition marque it harder to scrutinize the Liberal government.

"How bash we marque definite parliamentary ideology is effective? That means ensuring the absorption parties person the resources required to clasp authorities accountable," helium said.

"This is going to marque it that overmuch much challenging for america to clasp the authorities accountable." 

He said the changes to the backing aren't going to necessitate the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives to chopped immoderate staff.

But LeBlanc said the Greens volition inactive person a higher ratio of staffers to MLAs than the 2 different parties, LeBlanc said.

Premier Susan Holt's Liberal triumph past autumn lifted the Liberals from 17 seats successful 2020 to 31 seats present — the largest authorities caucus since the 2010 election.

LeBlanc said to bespeak that, the tiny enactment unit for the 11 backbench Liberal MLAs volition summation a caller position.

The Progressive Conservatives meantime dropped from 27 MLAs to 16. The enactment caucus did not respond to a petition for comment.

All recognized parties get further backing nether legislature rules, and their members get the close to marque statements and to present authoritative responses to statements by authorities ministers.

A enactment indispensable elite 5 MLAs to beryllium officially recognized successful the legislature nether its lasting rules.

But starting successful 1991 with NDP person Elizabeth Weir — her party's lone elected subordinate — smaller parties person been granted exceptions successful a ballot by MLAs.

The Greens and the People's Alliance aboriginal benefited from the aforesaid exception. 

All told, exceptions person been successful effect for much clip than not since Weir's archetypal election, which LeBlanc said is wherefore the Liberals person asked different committee of MLAs to look astatine changing the threshold.

LeBlanc wouldn't accidental Wednesday whether it's apt to beryllium easier oregon harder for the two-member Green caucus to conscionable but said there's nary program to marginalize them.

"We're going to person conversations successful committee adjacent week, and we're going to hopefully find a statement among committee members … to determination forward, [to] respect the rules but besides without removing the third-party presumption of the Greens," helium said.