Beware: Rebel Backbencher

Rebel N.B. backbencher contradicts premier on reasons for defection Chris Morris And Kevin
Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2006

FREDERICTON (CP) - The rebel backbencher who has plunged New Brunswick into a political crisis is challenging Premier Bernard Lord's version of events leading to his defection.

Michael (Tanker) Malley met Tuesday with reporters for the first time since announcing last Friday that he would leave the Conservative caucus to sit as an Independent - a move that turned Lord's majority government a minority, prompting speculation about a spring election.

While Malley said little, both when he was confronted in a hotel parking lot and later in the provincial legislature, he disputed Lord's claim that he had demanded personal favours in exchange for maintaining his allegiance to the ruling Tory party.

"In all honesty, I never had a list of demands," said the burly, former school bus driver from Miramichi, N.B. "That's his (the premier's) version. My version - I didn't make any demands."

Lord said that during a private meeting with Malley last Friday, the backbencher - angry at being passed over for a cabinet post - sought benefits for himself and his friends, including the appointment of Cleveland Allaby, a Fredericton lawyer, as a judge in Miramichi.

Allaby, a good friend of Malley's, was with him at the New Brunswick legislature on Tuesday as he signed the papers to become an Independent.

Allaby said he never asked Malley to make such a request.

After signing the papers, Malley attended a meeting of the legislature's public accounts committee, where he sat on the opposition side.

"I never thought I'd see the day that I'd sit on the opposition side, anyway not this soon," Malley said following the meeting, where he was visibly tearful.

"I'm a tough Miramicher. I've always fought for what I believe in. I always believed you were hard on the issues but easy on the people."

Malley said he quit the Lord government because he considered it unfair and insulting of the premier to, once again, pass him by for a cabinet post.

He said the city, which is going through difficult times due to the downturn in the pulp and paper industry, desperately needed a voice in cabinet.

Malley was the Conservative government's only member from the region.

"I know I'm not a doctor or a lawyer or a school principal, but the people put me here," he said.

His defection sets the stage for a provincial election in New Brunswick, possibly as early as April.

The 27-member Conservative caucus now can be defeated by a combined vote of the 26 Opposition Liberals and two Independents.

The Liberals already have said they're ready for an election, and NDP Leader Alison Brewer, whose party does not hold any seats in the legislature, said she is looking forward to a campaign.

"There's change in the air," Brewer said, adding that New Democrats are putting an election team in place. "There's widespread dissatisfaction with Bernard Lord's leadership."

© The Canadian Press 2006