PC campaign manager joins Premier's Office, will earn taxpayer salary

The campaign consultant hired by the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick for this year's election has landed a second position — a taxpayer-funded job in the office of Premier Blaine Higgs. 

Steve Outhouse, whose company Just Campaigns is billing the PC Party for election-related services, is now Higgs's principal secretary.

It means Outhouse will draw a public salary at the same time he's engaged in paid partisan work.

The premier's spokesperson Nicolle Carlin said Outhouse will be paid up to $124,656. The government contract, via a second Outhouse company called Intercede Communications, will run until the election campaign begins in September. 

In a telephone interview, Outhouse said the dual role is not unusual. 

"There are political staff that are hired in both ministers' offices, opposition offices, premiers' offices, that are engaged in political activity in their spare time and so on, and I'll continue to do that, just like any political staffer would," he said.

Green Party Leader David Coon disputed the comparison, saying Outhouse is a "hired gun" brought to the province for the election, unlike a political staffer who does partisan work as an unpaid volunteer. 

"It's extraordinary," Coon said. "They're turning the premier's office into his election campaign headquarters."

Just Campaigns is providing what Outhouse calls "various services for partisan campaigning" on a contract, and he says he'll continue his party role "in my off-work time" from the premier's office.

He acknowledged the two roles won't always be completely separate.

"Not everything fits into nice neat little boxes but the work that I'll be doing within in the premier's office itself will be related to the premier's agenda and governing, and my involvement in the campaign will be separate from that," he said.

Robert Gauvin, Liberal MLA for Shediac Bay-Dieppe, said Outhouse will be "mixing it up" between government and campaign roles and it's unfair that New Brunswick taxpayers are paying him for that.

"Mr. Outhouse was not brought here to do that," Gauvin said. "I think this contract should be cut and the money should be reimbursed." 

Gauvin noted there's already crossover between the campaign and the government, with the slogan "Stronger Than Ever" from a PC election bus decorated last fall, also being used for the provincial budget in March.

Higgs confirmed last year that the party was hiring Outhouse as campaign manager for the coming election, which is scheduled for Oct. 21.

Outhouse replaces Paul D'Astous, who was moved into the role of chief of staff to the premier last year. 

In a statement, Higgs cited Outhouse's experience as chief of staff and as director of communications for federal Conservative cabinet ministers. 

"His talent is a tremendous asset to our government," Higgs said.

Outhouse ran Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's election campaign last year and also managed two federal Conservative leadership campaigns by MP Leslyn Lewis.

Outhouse did not reveal how much the PC Party is paying him for campaign work but noted that the amounts will be public when the party files its election financing reports with Elections New Brunswick. 

The Tories have adopted a more pointed, aggressive style of advertising against the opposition Liberals since Outhouse signed on last fall. 

They have attacked leader Susan Holt, trying to link her to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's carbon tax and other policies.

This week a PC MLA criticized one recent PC Party post aimed at Holt.

It quoted Holt in her former role as CEO of the New Brunswick Business Council in 2014 saying it was "interesting" the Gallant Liberal government had "started a conversation" about closing some schools in the province.

PC MLA Jeff Carr pointed out in a thread on the social platform X that the PC post didn't mention that school districts must initiate closures and that student enrolment was declining at the time, forcing "all districts and governments" to look at the idea.

"To omit this piece of information for political gain (misleading the electorate) is disappointing," wrote Carr, who clashed with Higgs last year and who announced last month he will not be a candidate in this year's election.

Carr turned down an interview request from CBC News on Thursday.