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David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others
Methinks this will be old news in a heartbeat once the corporate media figures out that Higgy is planning to have the writ dropped for a general election in early September N'esy Pas?


https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/07/flemming-denies-favouritism-in.html



 #nbpoli#cdnpoli



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/monica-barley-vitalite-board-appointment-pc-ted-flemming-1.5653868

Flemming denies favouritism in appointment of ex-PC leadership candidate to Vitalité board

Monica Barley ran for the Progressive Conservative leadership in 2016

Jacques Poitras· CBC News· Posted: Jul 20, 2020 6:00 AM AT



Monica Barley, a bilingual Moncton lawyer, was chosen because of her qualifications, said Health Minister Ted Flemming. (Paul Hantiuk/CBC)

Health Minister Ted Flemming says there was no political favouritism in his appointment of a former Progressive Conservative Party leadership candidate to the board of the Vitalité Health Network.

Flemming said he approved the choice of Moncton lawyer Monica Barley because of her qualifications, not because of her PC ties.

"Monica Barley is smart. She is bright. She is a successful person both in law in business and I think she would be a great contributor to the board," he said.

"I don't know where the Liberals all of a sudden find out that to have any exposure to anyone on a political basis disqualifies you from public service."

Barley ran for the PC leadership in 2016, a race won by Premier Blaine Higgs. Flemming endorsed her in that race.

'Doesn't pass the smell test'

"This thing doesn't pass the smell test," said Liberal MLA Keith Chiasson.

"You're asking a former candidate to the leadership … to sit on the Vitalité board, knowing that the next couple of years will be very important because of the health reforms that Higgs wants to put forward. … If it looks fishy and it smells fishy, it must be fishy."

Barley is one of three new appointments to the board, along with Bathurst lawyer Liza Robichaud and Dr. Aurel Schofield of Moncton.
The trio replace three elected board members who left the board in the last six months: two who resigned in protest over proposed health reforms and one who decided not to serve an extra year until board elections, which were postponed until next May.

All three will be interim members until those elections take place.

Vitalité CEO Gilles Lanteigne said the health authority went looking for qualified people with skills that the board needed and then recommended the names to Flemming.


Gilles Lanteigne, president and CEO of Vitalité Health Network, recommended Barley and the others to the health minister. (Radio-Canada)

He said he didn't know Barley had been a PC leadership candidate until partway through that process.

"For some reason, I didn't even know she had presented herself" for the leadership, he said. "I'm not sure when I arrived and when that occurred, but I don't really remember her being in the picture."
Lanteigne became CEO in 2015 so he was in the job when Barley ran.

Barley did not respond to a request for comment.

Denies plan to revive reforms

Flemming also rejected Chiasson's suggestion that Barley was put on the board to pave the way for health reforms.

In February, he and the two health authorities announced the nighttime closure of emergency departments at six small hospitals, a move designed to free up doctors to see more patients during the day when demand is higher.

Higgs cancelled the plan and promised not to proceed without community consultations, which have not happened yet because of COVID-19.

Flemming said it's "absolutely untrue" that there's a secret plan to revive the reforms. "I reject that to the fullest extent."

In March, Higgs promised emergency departments would not close in return for getting support from opposition parties to pass his budget quickly at the onset of the pandem


Health Minister Ted Flemming said having the most competent people is what's most important. (Submitted by the Government of New Brunswick)

New Brunswick's two health authorities have boards made up of eight elected members and seven appointed members.

Lanteigne, who will retire as Vitalité CEO in October, said he would prefer to see an all-appointed board chosen on the basis of qualifications.

"When you're elected, these people are always sort of caught in between the role they perceive as representation of the population that has elected them, and their role looking at rules and regulations, what are the laws and mandate of the organization and fulfilling them."

He said that was what happened with two board members, Norma McGraw and Jean-Marie Nadeau, who quit earlier this year over the health reforms.

Flemming said he agreed that was an issue and would not rule out changing the legislation in the future.

"The acts says what it says, for now," he said.

"At any time we should be constantly looking for self-improvement, and the world of governance changes, and we should be focusing at all times on best practices.

"I think it's important we have the most competent, capable and able people that we can get. … Any government of any political stripe should in my judgment work toward that end."








55 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.




David Amos
Methinks this will be old news in a heartbeat once the corporate media figures out that Higgy is planning to have the writ dropped for a general election in early September N'esy Pas?













David Amos
Welcome back to the circus folks Now do tell who believes anything a political lawyer says as he appoints another political lawyer to a fancy job?

Survey Says?  













David Amos

Methinks its kinda aggravating to get another bill from Lanteigne for Health Care Services that are free for everyone else. Whereas he and his boss Flemming don't call or write me back perhaps the lawyer Monica Barley can make their boss Higgy see the light and remove the "Stay" on my right to a Medicare Card before I sue the Queen again N'esy Pas? 















Dave Nicholson
Ted Flemming bloody co-chaired the dumpster fire that was Monica Barley’s PC party leadership campaign. Did he recuse himself from the process of awarding her this board appointment which will impact the healthcare for hundreds of thousands? Not sure which is most concerning:

1) Ted Flemming watched Kielburger brother’s ME to WE scandal in Ottawa but still did not recuse himself? Should we pass a nationwide law against family political dynasties?

2) Everything political Ms. Barley touches has died. Fact. Are Barley and Teddy Flemming going to take down the whole Higgs’ government as encore to rural ER fiasco that caused MLA’s in Sussex & Shippagan to announce their departure from the Higgs’ PC gov’t?

3) Higgs’ lead PC’s never seem to cotton-on that Liberal Grits are the inventors and masters of opposition research in a modern Canadian political campaign. Does anybody advising Premier Higgs realize this perceived conflict-of-interest story could be leveraged to influence the 800 swing voters who decide a provincial election in New Brunswick?

4) Ted Flemming’s undying love for a second-helping of fried chicken and a good cigarette. This one is petty, but I like my Minister of Health to actually be relatively health conscious.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMiVA_vHclQ























Jos Allaire
How come they did not appoint Lou Bell?


Rob Sense 


David Amos
Reply to @Jos Allaire: Methinks Lou finnally clammed up N'esy Pas??






















Ben Haroldson
If it isn't patriotism, what is it?


David Amos 

Alex Stevens
Competent is not a word I would use in the same sentence as Ted Flemming.


David Amos 




























David Peters
Mixing politics and healthcare has been a very bad idea, imo.


David Amos 


























Bill Vasseur
When was the lat time any politician from any side said or did anything that "passed the smell test"?


David Amos 



























Terry Tibbs
I'm fairly sure, that there isn't one among us, who can claim to be surprised, or amazed, by this news?


David Amos