Former N.B. PC minister Jeff Carr says he's leaving politics

Former New Brunswick cabinet minister Jeff Carr, who was shuffled out of the provincial cabinet last year for breaking ranks on Policy 713, says he is leaving provincial politics.

Carr, a former minister of transportation and of environment and local government, says he won't be a Progressive Conservative candidate in the election scheduled for Oct. 21.

He warned last year after being dropped from cabinet that he was unlikely to run again if Premier Blaine Higgs led the PC Party into the next election.

"I think we saw over the last number of months that the signals were there that I probably wouldn't re-offer for the next election," he told CBC News and Radio-Canada on Tuesday.

Carr was one of six Tory MLAs who broke ranks with the government last June and voted with opposition MLAs for a motion calling for further study of potential changes to Policy 713.

WATCH |'The PC Party isn't about one person': Carr on his relationship with Higgs:

PC MLA Jeff Carr calls it quits

7 months ago

Duration 0:51

A former minister in Blaine Higgs's cabinet, Jeff Carr broke ranks on Policy 713. Now he says he wont run again.

He said Tuesday the PC party has changed under Higgs but he wouldn't elaborate or discuss in detail his disagreements with the premier, saying he wanted to leave on a positive note.

Carr has been the MLA for New Maryland-Sunbury since 2014, the third brother to hold a seat in the legislature after his siblings Jody and Jack.

Asked if they still felt welcome in the party with Higgs as leader, Carr said they were "still welcome with a majority of PC members" and said he would have a private discussion with Higgs eventually about the last year.

"I am still a PC member. I will always be a member of the PC Party. There are good things in the future that will come from the PC Party," he said.

"The PC Party isn't about one person. It's not about me. It's not about the premier. It's not about anybody else. It's a family that has just gone through a bit of a bump and a hurdle."

Higgs's changes to Policy 713 included requiring parents be notified if their children under 16 wanted to change the names or pronouns they use in school to reflect their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Carr said last May that governments should "strengthen policies and not take away the rights of marginalized individuals, to not have them live in fear."

After the dramatic vote last June, two other PC cabinet ministers who dissented, Dorothy Shephard and Trevor Holder, resigned.

Carr and colleague Daniel Allain were shuffled out of cabinet later that month.

That's when Carr said he wouldn't run again with Higgs as leader though he held off officially announcing it until Tuesday.

Higgs said Tuesday he wasn't surprised by Carr's decision and did not seem bothered by it.

"I ran on a policy that we would look at province first, politics second, and we would address tough issues, and we are doing just that. So it's not for everyone, and it can be challenging, but the province is doing well."

Shephard, Holder, Allain and another of the dissenters, Andrea Anderson-Mason, have yet to say whether they'll be candidates.

The sixth MLA who voted with the opposition last year, Ross Wetmore, had already announced plans to retire.

Carr is the third PC MLA to announce his departure this month. Arlene Dunn also opposed the Policy 713 changes but was away at meetings the day of the vote last June and was able to stay in cabinet as a result.

She resigned as a minister and MLA on Feb. 2 without providing an explanation.

Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland announced the same day he would not run again, saying his work was done and he had no issues with Higgs's leadership.

Social Development Minister Jill Green, who said last year she was uneasy with the changes but missed the vote on the opposition motion, remained in cabinet and said last fall she would run again to speak for the "progressive" wing of the PC Party.

Last December, Environment Minister Gary Crossman said he was retiring. He said he had always planned to serve only two terms.