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David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others


Methinks MacFarlane will get a golden handshake when he is done with the dirty work but with luck Cardy won't get much of a pension from this nonsense to pay for his butter tarts in his old age N'esy Pas?


https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/06/httpstwitter_9.html



#nbpoli#cdnpoli



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/tom-macfarlane-deputy-minister-environment-energy-higgs-1.5603367

Higgs sees no problem with natural resources deputy doing top environment job too

Premier says Tom MacFarlane's appointment 'a temporary or an interim position'

Jacques Poitras· CBC News· Posted: Jun 08, 2020 4:34 PM AT



Tom MacFarlane, the current deputy minister in the energy department, told MLAs that staff lacked the scientific skills to provide advice about the NB Power-Joi pitch. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

Premier Blaine Higgs says the appointment of the same top civil servant to two seemingly distinct roles doesn't create a conflict and shouldn't pit two competing priorities against each other.

The premier was responding Monday of criticism that Tom MacFarlane, the deputy minister at the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, is now also the deputy minister at the Department of Environment and Local Government.

"Environment is every department's responsibility," he said. "We feel it will work very well together."
Critics said last week that MacFarlane's two roles would be at odds with each other.
Green Leader David Coon said the Environment Department regulates the use of glyphosate, while Natural Resources support its use. The former decides on buffers around streams and lakes, which can collide with forestry operations overseen by the latter.

But Higgs said Monday that all departments collaborate on environmental issues, so there's no reason MacFarlane can't play both roles.


Premier Blaine Higgs said the appointment is temporary. (CBC)

He also said the new appointment is not a permanent posting.

"This is a temporary or an interim position at this point," he said.

No one from the province responded to questions Friday from CBC News on whether it was a permanent or temporary position, and the May 26 cabinet order making the appointment official doesn't describe it as an interim posting.

Higgs did not rule out keeping MacFarlane in both roles permanently.

He said departments have shown during the COVID-19 pandemic how they can work together and, "we need to find ways to keep that going and improve on it," he said.






Commenting is now closed for this story.




David Amos
Content disabled 
Methinks folks should ask the opposition leaders and their MLAs about this nonsense N'esy Pas?











Johnny Almar
Content disabled 
Tom was deputy at Social Development for awhile too. He gets around.


David Amos 
































Paul Krumm
It's not the appointing of another buddy that should be of concern but why the 200 or so other incompetents are still employed.


David Amos  































Fred Brewer
"Higgs sees no problem with natural resources deputy doing top environment job".

Of course not. After all, Higgs sees no problem with himself working for the empire while working as Premier. He could not recognize a conflict if it hit him in the face.




























Fred Brewer
This is a page right out of Donald Trump's playbook.


David Amos 

Ben Haroldson
Incompetence and high pay seem to be the letter of the day, " in this place ".


David Amos 
































Murray Brown
He put a guy who didn't have a library card in charge of library's... May as well put a guy who likes to cut wood in charge of the environment?


Terry Tibbs 



























Samual Johnston
Won’t really matter as ministers do what they are Told but definitely not good optics


David Amos 





























James Smythe
Shouldn't the headline read "Higgs sees no problem with a massive conflict of interest". Also, that isn't exactly news.


David Amos 






























Roy Kirk
"Environment is every department's responsibility,"
===
Perhaps, but the notion puts one in mind of the tragedy of the commons.


Ben Haroldson





























Brent Harris Blizzard
Who cares, there is no industry here to worry about so might as well let another political hack at the trough.





























Justin Time
This is definitely a conflict and should be corrected. Industry already runs the Natural Resources department, we don't need them running the Environment department as well.


David Amos 

























David News
The issue here is even if it is a temporary appointment, they in the political spectrum tend to last the term of the current government. So maybe not temporary.
Basic corporate governance and compliance with accounting standards would require a segregation of duties to ensure that standards, environmental and budgetary cutting corners to get a project started does not occur for the wrong reasons.
While this fellow may be good, it puts him and any decisions in question and opens up the potential for lawsuits on decisions that people disagree with.
But maybe not an issue, this is NB and we don't spend money to build infrastructure, rather we cut costs to pay for the deficit.


David Amos

Kyle Woodman
I think people are honestly reading too much into this. The individual in question has a good reputation amongst most stakeholders. He will act in good faith. The cynicism is certainly understandable though.


David Amos 


























Jos Allaire
La Marion net des Iervings!


Fred Brewer

Jos Allaire
Higgs, Eva pruned an day bark next election!





























June Arnott
Please keep it up opposition parties! Do no let this happen.



























June Arnott
And there goes my respect for Higgs. Typical Irving lackey. No, these two jobs do not go together.


David Amos 

























Roland Stewart
Of course he doesn't think there is a problem. It was probably just what the boss ordered .





























Bill Vasseur
Doesn't surprise me one bit, this Government doesn't give a hoot about the environment. Let the Irvings have at it.


David Amos 

Jack Straw
Why is this not surprising.


David Amos 


























Graeme Scott
Jeeez Blane....and you were doing so well.


David Amos  

Donald Smith
Just asking, is he doing both Gigs for One Salary only, or getting Double ?


David Amos 





https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies



David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others


Methinks the leader of the Green Meanies just figured out that Higgy doesn't care what he thinks N'esy Pas?



https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/06/nb-political-leaders-differ-on-protests.html



#nbpoli#cdnpoli




https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-double-duty-top-civil-servant-conflict-1.5600148

Double duty for top civil servant a clear conflict of interest, critics say

Tom MacFarlane's new appointment to Department of Environment and Local Government not announced publicly

Jacques Poitras· CBC News· Posted: Jun 05, 2020 2:53 PM AT



Tom MacFarlane, deputy minister at the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, was recently named to the same top job at the Department of Environment and Local Government, raising concerns of a conflict in interest. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

The top civil servant overseeing provincial forestry and energy policies has been put in charge of the environmental rules that regulate those sectors, raising questions about how he can do both jobs at the same time.

Tom MacFarlane, the deputy minister at the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, was recently named to the same top job at the Department of Environment and Local Government.

"It's terrible," said Green Party Leader David Coon. "He will be in a direct conflict of interest."

Lois Corbett, the executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said MacFarlane has "a breadth of experience" and "I have a lot of respect for him and his can-do abilities."

Lois Corbett, executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said the perception of conflict is sometimes just as dangerous as real conflicts. (CBC)

But "with one hat on as energy and resource development deputy, he has a certain economic agenda to fulfill, but as environment deputy he has to protect water, first of all, and clean air, and natural systems," she said.

"I don't understand, no matter how wide the beam is, how you can walk that beam."

Appointment not made public

MacFarlane's new appointment was approved by the provincial cabinet May 26 and took effect two days later. The cabinet order makes no mention of it being an acting or interim appointment.

Shuffles of deputy ministers are done by Premier Blaine Higgs and are usually announced by the province in press releases, but MacFarlane's was not made public.

It took place when the public's attention was focused on the new COVID-19 outbreak in the Campbellton area.

MacFarlane replaces Kelli Simmonds, who was moved to the position of chairperson of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Tribunal.

Environment and Local Government Minister Jeff Carr did not respond to an interview request Friday.

'Worst decision that could have been made'

Coon said by holding two top bureaucratic jobs at once, MacFarlane is in the difficult position of having to decide in one department whether to restrict or ban activities promoted by his other department.

"Glyphosate is probably the most publicly well-known example," Coon said.

"Environment regulates it, they're responsible for the Pesticides Control Act, and they have the authority to not sign permits that would prevent its use on Crown land. And the Department of Natural Resources is fully behind its continued use."
 
 
Green Party Leader David Coon says Tom MacFarlane will be in a direct conflict of interest in his new position. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

The environment department also regulates buffer zones around streams, brooks and lakes, a role that Coon said "runs right into" forestry operations under Natural Resources.

"This is the worst decision that could have been made," he said. "I don't know what government was thinking when they decided that pairing those two departments under a single deputy made any sense."

Corbett said New Brunswickers "have to respect our civil service and trust that they have the highest level of professionalism at all times. But what I'm concerned about is that the perception of conflict is sometimes just as dangerous as real conflicts."

No meaningful change

Earlier this year at the first hearings by a legislative committee on climate change, MacFarlane acknowledged there was still no strategy to meet emissions targets in the energy sector, three years after the provincial climate plan called for one.

"It's a fairly extensive effort to do such a thing," he said.
Last fall, MacFarlane told the legislature's public accounts committee the department had "very little input" into NB Power's partnership with Joi Scientific because the department lacked the expertise to assess the company's hydrogen technology.

And in 2017, MacFarlane told the same committee his department still hadn't implemented a recommendation by the auditor general to give private woodlot owners a more reliable share of the wood being sold to major forestry mills.

"I think we're continuing to work on that recommendation," MacFarlane said.

A shrinking share of fibre from private woodlots, and a corresponding larger share from publicly-owned Crown land, contributed to the U.S. government ending an exemption for New Brunswick from softwood lumber duties in 2017.
Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland announced last December that woodlots would get to sell more, while wood from Crown land would remain at the same level over the next five years.

But Coon said Friday that without changes to legislation, that didn't amount to much.

"There's just been lots of verbiage from the minister on this but no actual meaningful change," he said.



 



24 Comments 
Commenting is now closed for this story.



David Amos
Methinks the leader of the Green Meanies just figured out that Higgy doesn't care what he thinks N'esy Pas?



























Justin Gunther
 I bet Rock n Roll Kevin Cormier's cracking a Friday cold one with a big grin on his face over this story.


Corrie Weatherfield