Fredericton — Back in January, Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland came under fire for sending a letter to the Energy and Utilities Board in support of Irving Oil’s request for an expedited review of their application to increase in petroleum prices. The measure was nevertheless denied.
Thursday, CBC reported that the letter was actually not sent on behest of the minister, but rather Premier Blaine Higgs himself. This fact was revealed by a rather surprising source: the premier himself.
“It was annoying, frankly, to see Mike hog all of the attention for this,” said Higgs during an online press conference. “Listen, I’m well aware that being the premier can be a thankless task, and I have great team of people working around me, but sometimes you just want credit where credit is due.”
While it’s clear that Higgs feels slighted by the lack of credit, but the question remains as to why he would want it.
“Well, we got away with it, for one thing,” said Higgs. “That takes years of systematically wearing down the public into a state apathy. By any metric, that’s an accomplishment.”
He added that if he was not able to take responsibility for the actions taken on behalf of Irving Oil, then it might confuse the company as to whose tongue was actually on their figurative boot.
“This place is all going to hell in five years anyway,” he said. “I need to make sure I’m on the payroll when it does. That’s just good business.”
“But bad politics,” conjectured one brave reporter.
Higgs gave a confused tilt of his head.
“What’s the difference?”
William O’Donnell Well he now don’t need the Peoples Alliance to past things, well most people like the Liberals he can buy the PAP when needed. He is now a different person since he got his majority and still lets his supporting Party get their way in a few small things. He is not supportive of the First Nations people as we have seen. Irving have the people that tells him what to do. If the Ministers don’t tow the line even if their riding is against it they are out. They are working for a dictator at he present time. Liberals have no Leader? That leave the Green Party with their Party to lean on.