NB Conservatives Rockin' the House

Politics Two New Brunswick MPs named ministers as province rewarded for Tory seats

OTTAWA - New Brunswick now knows its reward for doubling the seats Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives won in the province Oct. 14.

Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson, left, who stays in the post he's held since 2006, leaves Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Thursday with his new cabinet colleague. Keith Ashfield, the rookie MP for Fredericton, was named minister of state responsible for ACOA.

It is Keith Ashfield, who became a second voice for New Brunswick, alongside Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson, as Harper unveiled his new cabinet on Thursday.

Ashfield, the rookie MP who brought Fredericton back to the Tory fold, was appointed Thursday as minister of state for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

News of the province having two ministers for the first time under the Harper government raised expectations that the province should reap results - but Thompson was quick to lower them.

"I look at it as just one more voice for us," said Thompson. "I don't see that people should expect more.

"I think most Canadians know we're going into a tough international economic situation and we're going to have to manage very tightly.

"It goes back to the campaign - we made no extravagant promises."

Liberal MP Jean-Claude D'Amours, who was his party's ACOA critic in the last Parliament, said he hoped having a second minister will mean the Harper government does more for New Brunswick.

"We will have to see in the next budget how (Finance Minister Jim) Flaherty will treat ACOA, because he's already talking about cutting some programs," said D'Amours.

"A second minister is good for New Brunswick as a small province, but we'll need two ministers who are delivering."

Provincial Finance Minister Victor Boudreau told reporters in Fredericton that having two ministers could be an advantage.

It "might help us move our files forward much faster," he said.

Ashfield vaults into cabinet as a junior minister despite being elected to a federal seat less than a month ago.

The appointment is recognition of the political experience he gained as former premier Bernard Lord's minister of natural resources from 2003 to 2006, and as an MLA for nine years in total.

But it's also because the Conservatives went from three seats to six in New Brunswick.

"I was pleasantly surprised, but I think the prime minister took a look at the good results in New Brunswick and thought a second cabinet position was warranted," said Ashfield.

Harper's decision to appoint Ashfield gives Thompson, still the regional minister, or Harper's political lieutenant for the province, an old friend at the table.

The two men forged a friendship that goes back to Thompson being first elected in 1988.

Parts of Thompson's federal riding and Ashfield's provincial riding overlapped around Hoyt.

Thompson has known since shortly after the election that Harper wanted him to stay on in the role he has occupied since the Conservatives took office in February 2006. Harper told him he's pleased with what he hears around the country from his MPs and veterans about Thompson's work, said Thompson.

"It's a real compliment when the prime minister says that to you eyeball to eyeball," said Thompson.

The MP for New Brunswick Southwest described Ashfield as "a really genuine individual who works really hard.

"It's a good combination to have in politics."

NDP MP Yvon Godin said he never felt it was realistic for Peter MacKay, the Nova Scotia MP who was foreign affairs minister, then defence minister, on top of being ACOA minister, to give ACOA the attention it deserved.

"I welcome this decision to have a new minister responsible for it," said Godin.

Ashfield should be more accessible than MacKay's double duty allowed him to be, he said.

And "since he comes from a provincial government, he should know the needs of different places, like the north of New Brunswick that has been hit very hard with mills closed in Miramichi, Bathurst and Dalhousie."

Provincial Conservative leader David Alward served in Lord's cabinet with Ashfield and calls him a friend.

"I'm thrilled New Brunswick has two cabinet ministers," said Alward.

"I think it reflects the tremendous work done in New Brunswick and the fact we were able to double the number of MPs.

"We'll have more people working in Ottawa on behalf of New Brunswickers.

"My hope and expectation is we're going to see results." Alward described Ashfield as "down-to-earth, a real people person.

"It helped make him an outstanding constituency MLA. He'll take this new role very seriously."

Thompson also spoke to the expectation some observers had that Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore might have been elevated from parliamentary secretary to cabinet.

Moore, he said, has one toddler at home "and a baby on the way" and many MPs would find the travel and long hours of being a cabinet minister hard under those circumstances.

"Rob has talent coming out his ears," said Thompson, "but those are the things a young man has to think of."

New Brunswick last had two full cabinet ministers in 1993 under the Conservatives, when Gerry Merrithew was at veterans affairs and Bernard Valcourt was at health and welfare.

It had a full minister and a minister of state as recently as 2004-06 under the Martin Liberal government, when Andy Scott was minister of Indian Affairs and Claudette Bradshaw was minister of state for human resources development.

Cabinet ministers and ministers of state are paid an extra $74,400 on top of the base salary of $155,400 for a member of Parliament, for a total of $229,800.