Bernard Lord rules out running in looming federal election

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By Jesse Robichaud
Times & Transcript Staff

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Daniel Allain and his family will decide this weekend whether he will seek the Tory nomination in a bid to knock off Liberal MP Brian Murphy in what is shaping up as an early fall election.

Two weeks ago, Allain says he received a call from former Premier Bernard Lord, who told him he would not be seeking the nomination.

Lord encouraged Allain, his former executive assistant, to step forward, and he assured Allain of his full support.

"Now that Bernard is not going, he called me a couple of weeks ago to try to entice me to run. He says he is willing to give his 100 per cent to the Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe area," says Allain. "He'll be on my side."

It could be an interesting reversal of roles for Allain, who spent four years as Lord's right hand man when both men had both feet firmly planted in elected partisan politics.

"I have been working in politics for 15 years, I have been taking care of people, and I know how government works, I know what the community needs, and I want to provide that to them," says Allain, the current CEO of Downtown Moncton Centreville Inc.

"We need a voice at that caucus table."

Allain says he has received calls from local Conservatives and Liberals encouraging him to run, and he says he has also been in contact with Conservative officials in Ottawa to make sure everyone is on the same "wavelength."

"I just want to make sure that their priorities are the same as mine," he says.

"I want to fight, I want to be that voice for Moncton. If I go into this I want to go 100 per cent. I want to make sure I have all the necessary tools to do that."

Allain says there are several projects he would like to fight for at the Conservative caucus table, but he would like to wait until he makes a decision on running before he reveals them.

"I want to move some projects forward," he says, noting that Metro Moncton needs a voice on the government side in order to make those projects a reality.

Allain, who has two young children, says he will have to weigh his passion for politics and his ambitions for the region with his family responsibilities.

But with a federal election looming, he says it is time to decide.

"For me I am at a point where I am young, I have a great family, great network of friends, so I have to discuss this with my family now."

Allain says even Liberals are disenfranchised by Stéphane Dion and the federal Liberals.

"I have people from the Liberals who are really not satisfied with Dion and what is happening in New Brunswick," he says. "To all of them I say come on board, we take everybody from any political stripe. We just have to make sure that the community is heard."

Allain believes the Liberals' proposed carbon tax will give him a head start out of the gates against Murphy because he says it is a tax that will hurt Metro Moncton and all of New Brunswick.

"As many people are saying, It's not a good tax," he says.

"It is something I really don't agree with. It is something that would be one of my priorities."

Allain also says local Liberals are looking for a stronger voice in Ottawa.

Murphy says he isn't surprised by Allain's criticism of the Liberals' carbon tax.

"It's a manufactured comment," says Murphy.

"It's a policy proposal that has been launched to open the discussion on climate change. What Mr. Allain will learn is that his party is completely bereft of any ideas whatsoever with respect to the environment. Nothing, zero," he says.

"I think he'll have to answer that, as I think he can -- he's an articulate man with a family and children that he cares about and cares about their future and their children's future."

Murphy, who has already ordered his campaign materials, says he will not be surprised if he ends up fighting an election versus Allain.