Robert McKee has won the Moncton Centre Liberal nomination and will run for the party in the upcoming provincial election this fall.

The 32-year-old lawyer was elected to Moncton city council in May, 2016, representing Ward 3, and declared his candidacy for the Moncton Centre Liberal nomination on May 17.

He won Saturday's nomination by acclamation, according to Duncan Gallant, a spokesperson for the party.

 



The availability to run in Moncton Centre for the Liberals opened up after Speaker Chris Collins said he wouldn't reoffer for the party.

Premier Brian Gallant suspended Collins from the Liberal caucus on the basis of allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature.

Collins described Premier Gallant's handling of the allegations as "atrocious" and will finish his term as an independent.

​The election is scheduled for Sept. 24.

Riding president Audrey Lampert said she, the treasurer, the secretary, and five board members decided to quit at a meeting Wednesday night.

Lampert said in an interview that Gallant had "humiliated" Collins when he went public with allegations of harassment against the Moncton Centre MLA. She also said the provincial party office kept the riding association in the dark during the controversy.

"It's been a very hurtful, painful process that every individual and this board as a whole has gone through since that April 5 or 6 announcement," she said.

• Liberals in Moncton Centre need time to 'heal,' says would-be candidate
• Speaker Chris Collins won't reoffer for Liberals, plans to sue premier for libel
• N.B. Speaker suspended from caucus amid harassment allegations

She said two board members have quit the party altogether and it's not clear whether the others will stick with the Liberals in the Sept. 24 election.

"I guess people will just take their time and decide where they are on that," she said.

Lampert said some of the Liberals who resigned could support even Collins if he ran as an independent this fall, something he has not ruled out.

"I guess people will declare their intentions if Chris Collins declares his," she said.

'Feel betrayed'

Gallant revealed the allegations April 5 in an evening conference call with reporters. He said the allegation came from a former employee of the legislature, where Collins has been Speaker since after the 2014 election. Details of the allegation remain a mystery.

Collins later gave up his administrative functions as speaker, and an all-party committee of MLAs commissioned an independent investigation.

Lampert said she only learned of the allegations when a reporter called her seeking her reaction to Gallant's surprise announcement on April 5 — a sign Gallant and the party disrespect local grassroots Liberals, she said.

"We were strong supporters of Chris," she said. "We got him elected. We raised money for him. And then he was, quote, 'suspended.' And we have no idea what's behind that.

"People in our association, it came through very clearly at the meeting last night, feel betrayed by the Liberal association."

Collins issued a blistering statement May 10 calling Gallant's actions "atrocious" and threatening to sue the premier for libel.

He said in that statement that he would not run as a Liberal under Gallant's leadership but did not rule out another kind of candidacy, declaring he had "many decisions to make about my political and professional future."

Wednesday was the deadline for candidates to file paperwork to seek the Liberal nomination in Moncton Centre. According to the party, only one person, Moncton city councillor Robert McKee, filed before the deadline.

McKee said Wednesday he was meeting with some association members who were upset at Collins's treatment. "Hopefully time will allow them to heal, I guess, from the situation and hopefully support the Liberal candidate down the road," he said.

Lifetime loyalty shaken

But Lampert said Gallant's treatment of Collins had shaken her lifetime loyalty to the party.

"It's terrible," she said. "It's awful. It took me a long time to make my decision to resign as president. I was shaking when I read my letter of resignation. It's just a very emotional thing.

"You spend your lifetime working for a party, financially contributing to the party. You know, we work as volunteers. We're not paid. So that's where the pain is."

In our democracy … people are innocent until proven guilty. And to be humiliated like that is a terrible thing.- Audrey Lampert , former riding president

Lampert said 14 people in all took part in the meeting, 12 in person and two by email. Seven board members, including three from the executive, resigned in person and one resigned by email.

"There were some people, a minority of people, who said regardless of how bad things were, they were definitely going to stick with the party and support a Liberal candidate," she said.

Other members of the Liberal riding board contacted by CBC News declined to comment.

Party exec tried to set up meeting

Liberal Party executive director Keiller Zed released a statement Thursday that he sent to party members in Moncton Centre, saying he had tried to arrange a meeting with the board after Collins's May 10 statement.

Lampert told him "she would be away for a few days," Zed said.

He also said he tried to reach Lampert earlier in the day Wednesday to ask her to resign over her previous comments to the media, which "cast doubt over supporting our party in the upcoming provincial election."

He accused her of rebuffing him and of not telling other members of the board that he had made the offer to meet them.

"I believe that much of this situation could have been avoided," he wrote.

He also said he and the riding association's acting president would try to organize a meeting before the June 2 nominating convention to elect a new executive.

Lampert is a former school teacher and former member of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission. She was named a member of the Order of New Brunswick in 2012.

Recruited by Collins

She said Thursday she first got involved with the Liberal Party when she was 11 years old.

She said Collins had personally recruited her and other members to sit on the board when the new Moncton Centre riding was created ahead of the last election.

"He's been humiliated publicly," Lampert said. "And there's two sides to every story. In our democracy … people are innocent until proven guilty. And to be humiliated like that is a terrible thing. That's why we're so pained that that man was humiliated like that.

"Maybe there's truth to the allegations. Maybe there's no truth at all. But having tarnished his reputation in the eyes of the public is what our people can't understand, and that's why they feel betrayed."








What a mess. Property tax, campgrounds, dirty swimming water, dirty politics.

I thought Gallant promised to nominate women in half of the ridings where there wasn’t an incumbent. Why no woman in Shediac-Beaubassin-Cape Pele, Campbellton-Dalhousie, Tracadie-Sheila, Moncton Centre, and Saint John Harbor. Or was that just another Gallant alternative fact.

Also, Dominic may have difficulty keeping track of his wife’s 60 cousins but Gallant seems to keep them straight.

http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2017.05.0692.html

Speaker Chris Collins won't reoffer for Liberals, plans to sue premier for libel

Describes Premier Brian Gallant's handling of allegations of harassment against him as 'atrocious'

00:0014:08

 TJ Burke is the lawyer representing Moncton Centre MLA Chris Collins. Mario Levesque teaches in the Politics and International Relations Department at Mount Allison University. 14:08

Little is known about the allegations, including whether the alleged harassment was sexual and whether it involved a man or a woman.

Gallant said last month that his office had been aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and a legislature employee "previously." He said in February his office found out a complaint might be coming, but it was only officially made in April.

Rejects harassment claim

The committee of MLAs that oversees the legislature approved the hiring of an independent investigator to look into the complaint.
Collins's lawyer, T.J. Burke, a former Liberal minister and colleague, said last month Collins would defend himself in that investigation because the harassment "did not occur."

Burke said he wanted to cross-examine the complainant.

Burke also suggested the allegation was politically motivated to create "political turmoil" for Collins so that Gallant would have a rationale to have another candidate run for the Liberals in Moncton Centre.

Felt rights were violated

In his Thursday email statement, Collins did not repeat that accusation, but he said Gallant had ignored due process and prejudiced the investigation against him.

"A citizen's rights should be protected, not violated, on national television," Collins wrote. "Who has ever handled [a human resources] file in this manner?"
Collins also said the actions by Gallant and his staff "have not created a safe place for complainants to come forward with a complaint or a concern.

"They have made it an intimidating process where the right to privacy is questioned through the politicizing of a process itself."

Even so, Collins said he's looking forward to the investigation process.

Political plans unclear

In his statement, Collins thanked several friends and supporters, including the Moncton Centre Liberal riding association that is on the record supporting his right to defend himself against the allegations before a nominating convention is scheduled.

Collins also thanked former Liberal cabinet minister Mike Murphy, whom Collins supported in the 2012 Liberal leadership race that Gallant won.

00:0022:55

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-centre-collins-1.4613337 

Mystery swirls around who will run for Liberals in Moncton Centre

The incumbent MLA, Speaker Chris Collins, is suspended from Liberal caucus because of a harassment allegation

About the Author

 

 

 

 New Brunswick Speaker Chris Collins intends to fight the harassment allegations against him "tooth and nail" but has given up his administrative duties over the legislature, his lawyer announced Monday.

T.J. Burke, a former Liberal colleague of Collins, said the Moncton MLA still hasn't been told who is making the allegations against him.

But Burke said Collins will defend himself and wants to be able to cross-examine the complainant.

"You can rest assured he's going to defend himself against every single allegation because it did not occur," Burke told reporters.​

Collins will retain his position, title and the additional salary the Speaker gets.

Burke's comments came just hours before the legislature administration committee, known as LAC, unanimously agreed that the clerk of the legislature will recruit an independent investigator to examine the allegations.

Burke said Collins would co-operate with any investigation.

Burke also made the sensational allegation that the complaint was timed to come to light now, less than five months before the start of the provincial election campaign, so that Collins could be replaced as the Liberal candidate in his Moncton Centre riding.

No information on complaint

Burke said while Collins has not been given any information about the allegation, the only situation that might have led to a complaint involved someone who hasn't worked for him for more than two years.

"I don't have to be Inspector Clouseau to figure that part out," he said. "My political hat suggests to me that this is politically driven by whoever the person is who is bringing forward the allegations at this time.

"If you're in political turmoil, or there is an allegation against you, the premier won't sign your nomination papers. That means it frees up the position for somebody to run in that riding."



The election is Sept. 24.

Collins hasn't been nominated yet as the Liberal candidate for the riding he now represents, and Premier Brian Gallant says he won't approve the nomination of anyone suspended from the Liberal caucus.

Liberal MLA Victor Boudreau, part of the LAC meeting that approved the investigation Monday, wouldn't comment on Burke's allegation.

"I'm not going to speak for other people or try to interpret what other people are saying," he said.

Employee transferred to another job 

Premier Brian Gallant revealed the allegation against Collins last Thursday.

Gallant said his office had been "previously" aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and an employee and arranged to have the employee transferred to another job.

I think the Speaker's being railroaded, period.- Dan  Bussières , former sergeant-at-arms

This February, he said, his office became aware there might be a complaint, but it was only last week that the former employee officially made the complaint.

Gallant expelled Collins from the Liberal caucus and asked the all-party legislature administration committee to suspend him from his administrative functions as Speaker.

He also asked the committee to "partner" with the government to hire an independent third-party investigator to look into the complaint.

Selecting the investigator

But Monday's LAC decision was that the legislature's clerk will "lead" the process of finding that investigator.

PC MLA Stewart Fairgrieve said that was the result of his party's insistence.

"This allegation came from an employee or a former employee … of the legislative branch, and it was our feeling that the legislative branch, through the [committee], should lead this."

The Tories also compromised. They had demanded a public inquiry into the allegations, but MLA Stewart Fairgrieve said they were satisfied that having the clerk oversee the selection of the investigator would ensure no political interference.

He said that was a separate issue from PC concerns that Gallant was aware of possible harassment before last week and did not act on it earlier.

Gallant said his office couldn't act until the official complaint was filed April 5, but Fairgrieve handed out copies of a government harassment policy that says senior officials must take action about harassment "whether or not a complaint is filed."

Boudreau said it wasn't clear how long the investigation would take, and he wouldn't comment on how that would affect Collins's possible candidacy in the election.

"I certainly can't speculate on how long the investigator will take," he said. "We simply asked that it be done as quickly as possible in the interest of both parties involved in this."

He said it wasn't his place to discuss whether the Liberal party should hold off on setting a nominating meeting in Moncton Centre until after the investigation is finished.

'I'm uncomfortable with it'

Green Party Leader David Coon said he agreed to the process despite his concerns that the complaint went not to the legislature but to the executive council office, the central government office under Gallant's authority.

He said he was also disappointed that he and other members of the legislative administration committee weren't told the substance of the complaint.

"I'm uncomfortable with it," he said. "That was the legal advice that was received, but to me it doesn't add up."

He said he hopes the conclusions of the investigation are made public.

A former sergeant-at-arms of the legislature, Dan Bussières, injected himself into the issue Monday by appearing at the legislature to argue that the committee meeting was "illegitimate." The house rules say only the Speaker can chair a LAC meeting.

"If I was Speaker Collins, I would have walked into that meeting and said, 'No, I did not call this meeting, I am the chair of this meeting and I'm recalling the house,'" he said. "I think the Speaker's being railroaded, period."

Bussières called Collins "a true gentleman" and said he had never seen him act in a way that could be considered harassment.

Boudreau brushed off Bussières's comments about the legitimacy of the meeting.

"I'm not sure what that's about, but we were well within our responsibilities today as per the clerk of the legislature."

Served in Graham government

Burke said Monday that Collins would co-operate with the investigation.

Collins was elected on March 5, 2007, in a byelection held to fill a vacancy in the constituency of Moncton East.

He had previously served three years as a Moncton city councillor.

In 2010, Collins served briefly as the minister of local government under former Liberal premier Shawn Graham.

He was re-elected in 2014 to represent the newly created riding of Moncton Centre and was elected Speaker.