New Brunswick's former health minister stood in unison with the man who replaced her Monday morning at a funding announcement in Saint John.
On July 15, Premier Blaine Higgs announced that Dorothy Shephard would change places with the former Minister of Social Development Bruce Fitch, following the death of a patient in the emergency room at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital.
Shephard was named minister of social development by Higgs in 2018, before moving on to health.
“We all serve at the pleasure of the premier, and sometimes we know that cabinet shuffles happen,” said Shephard, after the announcement. “SD [Social Development] has always been a very good fit for me. It's been really important to me, ever since becoming a minister in government, that health and SD and all of our departments work hand-in-hand, arm-to-arm, hip-to-hip. We need to be working together to move all of our files forward because they all overlap so much, so I'm good.”
Shephard and Fitch were in Saint John on Monday for a $3.8 million funding announcement for upgrades to three buildings at Horizon Health's Ridgewood Addiction Services.
The province, Horizon Health and the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation each made a $1.27 million contribution to the detoxification and rehabilitation programs.
Shephard was asked if the shuffle felt like a demotion.
“You know, when you're in the department of health, there's no other department that's bigger. So quite frankly, you're going to move to another department and I'm still in the third largest in government. So, SD, as I said, has always been a good fit. So no, this is a move the premier felt he had to make to refresh and that's his... how should I put it, that's his purview,” she said.
In a news conference on July 15, the premier called it a tough, but necessary move.
“It's not easy to make changes like this, and I commend Dorothy for the great work she's done through the whole program and through the pandemic,” said Higgs, when he announced the shuffle.
Jamie Gillies, a political science and public policy expert at St. Thomas University, told CTV News last week that no matter who the health minister is, the responsibility of health care falls to the premier.
“This is probably something politically that Higgs felt that he needed to do, but I don't think the public is going to give him an ounce of credit until they see positive results in the health care system,” said Gillies.
Shephard added that it felt "great” to be by Fitch's side for Monday's announcement.
