Bruce Northrup is the MLA for Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins. (Photo: Facebook)
The Progressive Conservative MLA for the Sussex area says he “cannot support” a decision to eliminate overnight emergency room coverage in the town.
In a Facebook post Thursday morning, Bruce Northrup says it is “one of the most difficult decisions” of his political career.
“As the MLA for the riding of Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins, for the past 13 plus years, I have always put my constituents first, and will continue to do so,” wrote Northrup.
“Over the past few days, I have done a lot of soul-searching, gathered information at meetings from Horizon Health and various stakeholders, and most importantly I have listened to the people I represent.”
As the MLA for the riding of Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins, for the past 13 plus years, I have always put my constituents…
Posted by Bruce Northrup on Thursday, February 13, 2020
Northrup’s announcement came less than 48 hours after health officials announced they would be closing ERs overnight in six communities: Sussex, Sackville, Sainte-Anne-de-Kent, Perth-Andover, Grand Falls and Caraquet.
The move has led to protests and backlash from residents and opposition political parties.
Northrup says he hasn’t given much thought to the impact of his decision to not support his government on this.
“I’m very proud to be a PC MLA with Premier Higgs and Minister Flemming. I have the highest respect for them. There are not only my caucus members, I consider them good friends today, tomorrow, next week and next year,” Northrup said in an interview.
Northrup said he wishes the people in Sussex had been consulted on the decision well in advance of Tuesday’s announcement.
He said he hasn’t given a lot of thought to how he would vote if the Liberal opposition puts forward a non-confidence motion on this issue.
“I’ll cross that bridge basically when I come to it. We’ll see what happens in the future. We go back to the legislature on March 10th for the reading of the budget by our Minister of Finance. We’ll see what happens then,” Northrup said.
In a statement Thursday, New Brunswick’s Liberal leader commended Northrup for “standing up for his constituents.”
“The only way for Mr. Northrup to prevent this from happening is to vote against the government and we are encouraged by his comments that he might be prepared to support a non-confidence motion against the Higgs government in the legislature,” said Kevin Vickers. “It appears that might be the only way to reverse this very bad decision.”
With files from Brad Perry and Tamara Steele.
