New BrunswickNew Brunswick’s Liberal government will apologize and pay Margaret-Ann Blaney more than $700,000 after a board ruled her 2014 firing was discriminatory.Premier Susan Holt says province won’t fight Blaney ruling, will pay compensationJacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: Jul 23, 2025 10:13 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoFormer PC cabinet minister Margaret-Ann Blaney arrives at the labour board hearing in Fredericton in 2024. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)New Brunswick’s Liberal government will officially apologize to former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Margaret-Ann Blaney over her firing by a previous Liberal government in 2014.Premier Susan Holt confirmed to CBC News that her government will not contest a ruling by the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board that Blaney’s rights were violated by the firing.The province will also comply with the board’s order to compensate Blaney at a cost of more than $700,000.”There were errors made in the past. It wasn’t the right way to do things, to fire people for partisan reasons,” Holt told CBC News Wednesday morning.”Part of why I got into politics was to do things differently, and move away from partisan, petty politics to doing the right thing. So we abide by the ruling, we’re going to apologize and things like that won’t happen again on my watch.”Blaney, a PC MLA first elected in 1999, was appointed CEO of the provincial agency Efficiency New Brunswick by PC Premier David Alward in 2012.The move was widely seen as an example of political patronage.Two years later, the new Liberal government of Brian Gallant fired Blaney and passed legislation that prevented her from collecting severance or from suing.WATCH | ‘We’re going to apologize,’ premier says:N.B. government will apologize to former PC minister over firingPremier Susan Holt says her government won’t fight a provincial labour board decision that awards former PC cabinet minister Margaret-Ann Blaney a formal apology and more than $700,000 in compensation. This week, the labour board upheld Blaney’s complaint under the Human Rights Act, saying the Liberal legislation was “an abuse of power” and that the law, and the firing, amounted to discrimination based on Blaney’s party affiliation. “Ms. Blaney was not treated with dignity, was not afforded the protection of the rule of law, and she was subjected to public miseries because of her political belief and activity,” the board said.It ordered the government to pay her the equivalent of more than $700,000 for lost salary and vacation, pension contributions and damages.It also ordered the government to issue a written apology “acknowledging that it discriminated against her in violation of the act because of political activity.” WATCH | ‘An abuse of power’: Labour board rules for former minister:Former PC minister fired by Liberals wins legal challengeThe New Brunswick government has been ordered to apologize to Margaret-Ann Blaney and pay her more than $700,000.The ruling noted that while a Liberal government fired Blaney, “blame cannot be attributed solely to that government.”It said the PC government of Blaine Higgs, elected in 2018, “did nothing to rectify the violation of Ms. Blaney’s rights” and continued to defend the Liberal legislation and tried to prevent Blaney from pursuing her complaint under the Human Rights Act.The legislature “as a whole” treated Blaney in a disingenuous and callous way, it said.ABOUT THE AUTHORJacques Poitras has been CBC’s provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.
N.B. government will apologize to former P.C. minister for firing
