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<h1 class="gmail-article-headline">Four-year deal between N.B. Tories, smaller party ideal for stability: Higgs</h1>
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<span class="gmail-article-author">The Canadian Press</span>
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<span class="gmail-article-date" title="Published Oct. 1, 2018, 9:15 a.m."><strong>Published: </strong>a day ago</span>
<div class="gmail-article-date" title="Updated Oct 02, 2018 at 11:30 a.m."><strong>Updated: </strong>7 minutes ago</div>
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<p>FREDERICTON — New Brunswick's Tory leader says a
four-year agreement with one of the smaller political parties would help
create stability in a province stuck with a deadlocked result from last
week's election.</p>
<p>The Tories, led by Blaine Higgs, won 22 seats in the legislature —
one more than the Liberals. Neither party has enough seats for a
majority. However, Liberal Premier Brian Gallant has said he intends to
continue governing as both leaders try to gain support from the third
parties holding the balance of power.</p>
<p>On Monday, Higgs met with the Green Leader David Coon and emerged to
say the parties share some common policy areas, such as improving the
openness of government.</p>
<p>He also said the Greens are interested in a four-year agreement like
the one in British Columbia between the NDP and the Green party, which
states the agreement is in effect "until the next fixed-date election."</p>
<p>Though the B.C. agreement doesn't guarantee the support of the
Greens, it sets out a series of guidelines on how the two parties will
work together, and it requires the minority government to hold a
referendum on proportional representation.</p>
<p>Higgs said the document is "maybe more thorough" than something his
party would sign, but added he'll see where talks go with the Green
leader.</p>
<p>Coon issued a brief statement Monday, saying the "ongoing discussions" with Higgs and Gallant will continue this week.</p>
<p>"Both agreed with me that we need to find a way to bring a stable
government for the people of New Brunswick in this minority government
situation," Coon's statement said. "I and my caucus will continue to
work to achieve this."</p>
<p>The right-of-centre People's Alliance and the Green party scooped up three seats apiece on Sept. 24.</p>
<p>The People's Alliance has already said it would help prop up a
minority Tory government for up to 18 months, even though a formal deal
or coalition has not been struck.</p>
<p>As for the Greens, they have yet to make any commitments, official or otherwise.</p>
<p>Higgs told reporters that he likes the idea of the longer-term
agreement being floated by the Greens, and he said it was
something People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin might consider as well.</p>
<p>"We're using the template that was struck out West ... maybe it's
more thorough than something we need to have," Higgs said after
his meeting with Coon.</p>
<p>"Ideally, that agreement is a four-year document. And I think if we
can find a four-year commitment, and I think Mr. Austin would also be
open to that, because we want stability here in the province, and that's
what we're striving for."</p>
<p>Higgs also said it's important for the province's financial stability
to work out a longer-term arrangement that will ensure bond raters
don't downgrade the province's credit rating due to political
uncertainty.</p>
<p>"If they think we're going into an election, that's just one more
item bond raters look at ... and then we're deeper in the hole," he
said.</p>
<p>Austin said in a telephone interview that while his party also wishes
to create stability in government, "at the same time we want to have
our autonomy as a party to continue to fight for things we've been
fighting for all along."</p>
<p>He said he is hesitant to say he'd favour a four-year agreement without looking into the possibility in greater detail.</p>
<p>Higgs was recently downplaying his party's relationship with the
People's Alliance, describing it as an informal, verbal agreement.</p>
<p>However, Austin said that he will expect talks with a Progressive
Conservative government prior to offering support on the throne speech
and financial bills.</p>
<p>"I would expect to have some kind of discussions or negotiations leading into it," he said.</p>
<p>On Friday, Gallant said he would try to form a minority government
with the Green Party and will recall the legislature for a throne
speech by Oct. 23.</p>
<p>Gallant said the Liberals will not form a coalition with the People's
Alliance, saying there are "fundamental values" the Liberals don't
share with the smaller party, particularly their language policies.</p>
<p>— By Michael Tutton in Halifax.</p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>