Dorothy Shephard is latest PC MLA to leave politics

Another Progressive Conservative MLA who clashed with Premier Blaine Higgs has decided not to be part of his campaign for re-election this year.

Four-term Saint John Lancaster member Dorothy Shephard, who was health minister during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, says she will not run again.

Shephard said her public break with Higgs last year over Policy 713 and his leadership style were just the latest in a series of "challenging times" during her 14 years in politics, and this was the right time for her to look at other ways to contribute.

Shephard was one of six PC MLAs who voted with the opposition last June on a Liberal motion calling for more study of changes to Policy 713 on gender identity in schools. She resigned from cabinet the same day.

From top left to right, Andrea Anderson-Mason, Trevor Holder, Dorothy Shephard, Daniel Allain, Ross Wetmore and Jeff Carr. Shephard was one of the six PC MLAs who voted with the opposition last June on a Liberal motion calling for more study of changes to Policy 713. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

The changes included requiring parental consent before teachers and staff can use a child's chosen pronoun in verbal or official communication.

She told CBC News that she plans to stay involved with the PC Party and defend its moderate, centrist values.

"The way it's heading now, I think there is such a hyper-focused trend with far-right politics," she said. "That's my personal perspective."

Jeff Carr, back left, Trevor Holder and Dorothy Shephard at a committee meeting in November. Shephard and Carr have both said they won't run again, but Holder has yet to say. (Alix Villeneuve/Radio-Canada)

She said the party should look back to the tenure of former prime minister Brian Mulroney to "understand the great accomplishments that come from centre-right, centre-left politics, and strongly promote that. So that's where my efforts are going to lie."

In a statement posted to social media Thursday morning, Shephard not-so-subtly rebutted comments Higgs has made about other PC MLAs who have opted out.

"Surprisingly, politics was for me," she wrote. "I am a Progressive Conservative, and I will carry the experience and learnings from these four terms into whatever the future holds next."

Health Minister Bruce Fitch has hinted he will retire after 21 years as an MLA. (Shane Magee/CBC)

Earlier this year Higgs responded to other departures by saying about Jeff Carr that tough decision-making is "not for everyone" and, about Arlene Dunn, "politics turned out to not be for her."

In her statement, Shephard pointed to several initiatives she was proud of during her time as a minister, including kinship legislation in 2019 that clarified the rules around relatives able to care for a child who needs to be removed from the family home.

Shephard is the ninth PC MLA elected in 2020 to quit or not to run again, meaning a full one-third of Higgs's victorious candidates from that campaign won't be on the ballot this fall.

At least three others may also bow out.

Two more of the six who rebelled over Policy 713 and the premier's leadership style, Trevor Holder and Andrea Anderson-Mason, have yet to say whether they'll run.

Health Minister Bruce Fitch has also hinted he will retire after 21 years as an MLA.