Former cabinet minister announces she's quitting provincial politics

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Dorothy Shephard, a long-serving Progressive Conservative MLA from Saint John who had a falling out with Premier Blaine Higgs, won’t be running in this year’s provincial election.

After nearly 14 years in office, the former cabinet minister under two different Tory administrations told Brunswick News on Thursday she was keen to seek other opportunities and would vacate her seat in Saint John Lancaster once the election is called. The vote must be held by Oct. 21.

Shephard is known in the legislature for her collegiality and non-partisanship, and she was careful not to criticize Higgs on her way out, despite their differences.

“In any profession, you’re going to have people you agree and disagree with,” said Shephard, 62. “You’re going to have bosses you have disagreements with. On the whole, I was given opportunities under former premier David Alward and Blaine Higgs, and I’m grateful for those opportunities and I served the people to the very best of my ability.”

The former businesswoman co-signed a letter with seven other Tory MLAs last year during a heated debate over changes to the school gender policy. Higgs ignored expert advice and demanded that transgender students who are under the age of 16 seek parental consent if they want to change their names at school. It is now the subject of a lawsuit launched by human rights advocates.

The rebel Tories complained that Higgs hadn’t listened to them and that his leadership style was basically ‘take it or leave it.’ At the time, the premier was so worried about losing his majority he threatened a snap election. But in the end, they voted with his government’s throne speech. Only one of the eight – Transportation Minister Jill Green – is nominated to run in this year’s election.

Higgs said losing Shephard and others caught up in the debate, such as former cabinet ministers Arlene Dunn and Jeff Carr, was “a decision we accept. I wish Dorothy Shephard the very best in her future endeavours. I think she was dedicated to the province and to her riding and that’s what MLAs are supposed to do.”

Asked directly if former cabinet ministers and rebels Trevor Holder and Andrea Anderson-Mason should run for the Tories again, Higgs replied: “That’s a decision that will be forthcoming. So we’ll wait and see what they decide.”

The premier rebuffed the suggestion he’d taken his party more to the right of the political spectrum, leaving progressives such as Shephard sidelined.

“If having parents involved in raising their kids and making sure that that’s an accepted practice is ‘to the right,’ then maybe we have to evaluate society.”

Shephard said she cared deeply about that debate, but argued it was no different than other controversial reforms in which she made her views known, whether it was supporting changes to government pensions during the Alward years or managing the pandemic when she was health minister.

“I’m vocal on positions that are important to me,” she said. “But in this day in age of social media, 14 years is a pretty good run. The difficulties that we face, I just hope we face them with grace. My mom used to always say, ‘you might as well say it, as think it’.”

Green party Leader David Coon became friends with Shephard when he was first elected a decade ago. They were seatmates in the legislature, and she showed him how the place worked. They also served on the COVID-19 cabinet committee together when the province declared a state of emergency.

“Her commitment to this province and her constituents is huge,” Coon said. “She’s a strong Progressive Conservative. And being a Progressive Conservative is an integral part of her identity. The premier has taken the party in a different direction, hard to the right. She’s also a collaborator, and that’s not the kind of leadership the premier is bringing to cabinet, according to her and some of the other former cabinet ministers.”

Shephard, who had owned and run a Benjamin Moore decorating store in Saint John for 17 years, was first elected in 2010 and served as minister of healthy and inclusive communities in Alward’s Tory government for two years up until the 2014 election, when she moved into opposition, a role that she still describes as important. In 2017, she took a short leave from the legislature to be treated for breast cancer.

Re-elected in 2018, Shephard was appointed social development minister by Higgs, serving for two years before being re-elected a fourth time in 2020 and becoming health minister, leading the government’s biggest department.

In 2022, Higgs shuffled her back to the social development portfolio after a prominent citizen died waiting for treatment in a waiting room at the emergency room of the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital. The scandal led to the dissolution of the two health boards and the firing of the CEO of the Horizon Health Network.

The difficulties that we face, I just hope we face them with grace. My mom used to always say, ‘you might as well say it, as think it’.

Dorothy Shephard

Shephard quit cabinet last year, handing Higgs a handwritten resignation letter on the floor of legislature after voting for a Liberal opposition motion calling for further studies on the school gender policy. She told reporters she wouldn’t run again under Higgs’s leadership.

On Thursday, she cited two lesser-known accomplishments and one well known one in summing up her political career.

A long-time seniors advocate, Shephard pushed for a change early on in her tenure to a federal form that seniors were forced to sign to keep the guaranteed income supplement, or GIS payment, if their husband or wife went to a nursing home.

It was called the ‘Involuntary Separation’ form, and many seniors hated it. After she coaxed federal Conservative minister Alice Wong for several months, the wording was changed to ‘Persons Living Apart for Reasons Beyond Their Control.’

“If you can imagine couples who had been married 60 or 70 years, at an age where dementia might be creeping in and other complexities, they see the name of ‘involuntary separation’ and they immediately think that they are being forced to separate from their spouse. It created a lot of sadness and angst. That was one of the things that really touched my heart.”

She said she was teary when the name was changed, but she also chuckled.

“Of course, in a very federal way, they chose a title that was four times longer than it was needed to be. I would have just called it a special benefits form. But that name change created a lot of comfort.”

She’s also pleased that she got prominent researchers together for discussions about better primary care for truckers. Today, a pilot project, guided by research out of Université de Moncton, is helping to ensure truckers receive the care of a family doctor, virtually and in person if need be.

“I have two brothers who are professional truck drivers, and cousins and extended family members who drive as well,” she said.

She said an article she read about a retired military doctor in Virginia who had set up a clinic at truck stops convinced her truckers, who are famously independent, needed better primary care. Their average life expectancy is only 61.

“They work convoluted hours, travelling the roads, Monday to Saturday, and if they get sick, how do they pull in an 18-wheeler into an ER? The fact is they can’t, they don’t, and all of their conditions become chronic.”

In terms of legislation, she was most proud of having the Family Services Act overhauled in 2019. Better known as kinship legislation, it makes it easier for relatives of children who are in government care to play a bigger role in the lives of their loved ones. It had first been introduced more than a decade earlier during the Liberal Graham government but was never proclaimed.

Shephard said she had advocated for it for so long in opposition, the department knew it was a priority when she became social development minister and the law was cleaned up, re-introduced and passed.

“Before, the uncle of a child who had been in care might not be able to get a kid’s haircut without parental permission. The legislation changed all that.”