Is Peter Mesheau a traitor to the Tory cause or lending a helping hand? One thing’s for sure, the NB Tories lately like to provide lots of drama. Remember the Tanker affair? Hard to forget. He quit. He was castigated. He was called a liar, blackmailer and traitor. Then he was made Speaker.
Now Peter Mesheau.
One side has him being slighted for being pushed from the Finance portfolio to Business New Brunswick (a less than posh appointment these days). This theory has him bitter and angry with the Premier and eager to get out. Pulling the plug now would be revenge. I have actually heard variants of this theory from several folks – one mid level manager over at BNB.
The other side has him cast as a loyal soldier in the Tory battle for truth, justice and the vanishing Prosperity Plan. His decision to leave politics was personal and he is as well loved as ever. A decision to resign now – a year before the Premier’s ‘preferred’ election date, the story goes, would be a deliberate and supported move to trigger an election because the Premier’s popularity is as high now as it was in 2000. Of couse, this side says, Mesheau would be castigated publicly – even by Tories – to keep up appearances. But in the end, he would be the sacrificial lamb to get an excuse to call an early election.
Which theory is right?
Who knows?
We rarely get the kind of ‘leaks’ and ‘dirt’ in the local NB media that the natioanl political reporters are able to tease out of elected officials and/or their lackeys. In addition, on the national stage, there are all kinds of ‘strategic’ leaks of information. We get some of that in New Brunswick as politicians want to test the waters with plausible deniability.
I still think personally that Peter is a decent guy and this is probably a pretext to get an early election.
But, again, who knows?