The Opposition Liberals have moved to force a vote in the legislature next Friday on the contentious issue of shale gas development.

Liberal Leader Brian Gallant has introduced an amendment to the Progressive Conservative government's throne speech motion calling on the PCs "to continue the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in all parts of the province."

MLAs will have to vote on that amendment Nov. 30 before voting on the main throne speech motion itself. The latter vote will determine if the PC minority government can govern with the confidence of the legislature.

Three MLAs from the People's Alliance have promised to vote to keep the PCs in power by supporting them in all confidence votes. But the party's members are less willing to support legislation that would lift a moratorium on shale gas.

Gallant told the legislature in his official response to the throne speech that the PCs don't have a mandate to allow fracking.

"There absolutely has to be a clear majority of the people of this legislature that would allow for that moratorium to be lifted in any shape or form," he said.

Liberals accused of playing political games

PC Premier Blaine Higgs has already promised legislation to create local exemptions to the Liberal moratorium in areas of the province where there is support for development.

But Gallant noted Thursday that the law passed by his government gave cabinet the power to impose a moratorium with a simple order.

That means the law also gives the new Higgs cabinet the power to "unilaterally remove or modify" the moratorium without a vote in the legislature, he said.

At this stage of the game in a minority situation, we don't want to be tackling issues that are highly controversial.- People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin

Higgs told reporters he would go back and check on that.

"I guess I should go and read the legislative process and what the bill actually was and how it was worded," he said.

Higgs said the Liberals are playing political games that contradict their promise to collaborate with the government in a legislature where no party has a majority.

"You hear all the flowery words from a week ago, but boy, the tone's starting to change now," Higgs said.

Alliance votes

Gallant introduced the amendment one day after Fredericton-York Alliance MLA Rick Desaulniers said he was "not going to vote in favour of shale gas, period."

The other two Alliance members, leader Kris Austin and Miramichi MLA Michelle Conroy, also said they were hesitant about supporting legislation to allow local exemptions.
Without support from the Alliance, Higgs and the other 21 PC MLAs would not be able to pass legislation alone in the 49-member house.

Austin said, however, that he won't necessarily support the Liberal throne speech amendment, either.

"I don't want to put barriers up for areas that want to proceed, like Sussex," he said. "That's a local issue for them and that's something they've elected a local MLA to address."

He also said if the amendment is considered a confidence vote, he and his two fellow Alliance MLAs would honour their promise to prop up the Higgs government.

"We're not going to collapse the government for some sort of trick that the opposition's trying to put forward," he said.

"It seems like the opposition wants another election. It baffles me. We're trying to do everything we can to avoid another election and instead get things done in government."

No mention in throne speech

Gallant said Thursday he did not consider the amendment to be a confidence matter.

Memramcook-Tantramar Green MLA Megan Mitton said she would vote for the Liberal motion and, given the comments by Desaulniers on Wednesday, "it's my impression that there would be the votes to pass that motion."
She said the Green Party is working on legislation to write the moratorium into law because the throne speech amendment wouldn't be binding and is "more of a symbolic suggestion."

Gallant told reporters that it was "bizarre" that Tuesday's PC throne speech, laying out the new government's agenda, didn't explicitly mention its plans to revive shale gas.

Austin said on Tuesday he had urged the Tories to not include a direct reference in the speech.
"At this stage of the game in a minority situation, we don't want to be tackling issues that are highly controversial," he said.

Gallant said that's further proof of a secret deal creating what he repeatedly called "an Alliance-Conservative government."

Higgs said he chose to make the throne speech more of a "philosophical process" than the usual laundry list of promises.

"We're not going to try to cover everything," he said. "I wasn't trying to make it a controversial document. In fact, just the opposite."

Even so, he hasn't shied away from his plan to allow fracking in areas that support it.

Asked if he would lift or change the moratorium by cabinet order if it turned out he didn't need legislation, Higgs said he would "commit to reading that piece of legislation so that I'm very clear on what it requires and doesn't require, and we'll talk about it after that."

But he said he still wanted to have a vote in the legislature.

"That is what I think is the right thing to do, and that will be my goal," Higgs said. "So if it has a different capability in the actual document, that isn't what I intend to do at this stage."

New Brunswick Environment Minister Jeff Carr says he's prepared to slap a cease-work order on Saint John's American Iron and Metal if he has to.

There have been at least two explosions so far this week at the scrap recycling operation on the city's west side, and more than 40 blasts, large and small, over the past 18 months.

"I've got to tell you, I'm pretty concerned with what I see down at the port with AIM and the volume of incidents that have happened lately," Carr said Wednesday. "If this keeps elevating and continues, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to come in and take it to the next level."

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Carr suggested some downtime for the plant might be required to assess the nature of the problem.
"We will look at the approval to operate and a cease-work order if we have to because it's getting to the point where there doesn't seem to be a resolution in sight."

The approval to operate is a permit issued by the Department of Environment and Local Government. If revoked the company would have to shut down.

AIM's permit comes with 53 conditions that give the province broad powers over the facility.

Meeting set for this week

Among them is condition 26: "If, in the opinion of the Minister, the environmental impact of the Facility is unacceptable, the Minister reserves the right to cancel the Approval and issue a new Approval with terms and conditions as deemed necessary."

Two other conditions, numbers 37 and 38, deal with steps to control the arrival and handling of potentially explosive components to limit or eliminate explosions.

Carr said he will ensure a representative of the Department of Environment and Local Government attends a meeting scheduled Friday between AIM owner Herb Black and officials from the city and Port of Saint John.

An American Iron and Metal communications consultant could not immediately be reached Wednesday






 
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