Roger Melanson hires new political aide while cutting civil service
New Brunswick's minister of finance has hired an extra political staffer for his office at the same time he's laying the groundwork for millions of dollars in government cuts.
Roger Melanson confirmed to CBC News that he added Francesca Turgeon as a special assistant in his office last month.
That was at the same time Melanson was working on a budget that includes a plan to cut 1,300 civil servants over five years, and cut 200 casual jobs in one of his own departments by privatizing some transportation functions.
Melanson defended the hiring by pointing out he has had only a single executive assistant since he became a minister 14 months ago, despite holding two portfolios.
He also said ministers in the previous Progressive Conservative government had many more political staffers.
Under the PCs, "there was two ministers doing what I do now," he said.
"Each minister had three or four assistants. And there's a lot of work to do and we want to keep doing a good job, so I decided to get a special assistant, which is not an executive assistant, to help out."
Melanson said special assistants earn "a lower scale of salary" than executive assistants, though he couldn't say what Turgeon will be paid.
Such political assistants have a different status than non–partisan civil servants. Executive assistants and special assistants handle some partisan issues and are allowed to take part in political activities.
On Tuesday, Melanson called it "a difficult decision" to cut senior managers in the civil service this year and begin trimming mid–level bureaucrats to eliminate 1,300 of them in the next five years.
Progressive Conservative MLA Blaine Higgs, the Opposition finance critic, says adding a new salary to his office sends the wrong message when Melanson is raising the Harmonized Sales Tax and forecasting a $347 million deficit.
"The message is, we'll hire who we need to meet our political agenda," he said.
"It's clear. The rest of the situation in this province is clearly secondary."
