HAS BERNARD LORD GONE TOO FAR????

Bernie
Originally uploaded by Oldmaison.

NB Telegraph-Journal | News - As published on page A1 on August 31, 2006

Lord regrets remark

Widow of former premier Louis J. Robichaud demands apology

By Shannon Hagerman
Telegraph-Journal

(File/Canadian Press)
New Brunswick Premier Premier Bernard Lord, widow Jacqueline Robichaud, and Lt.-Gov. Hermengilde Chiasson, along with his wife Marcia Babineau, left to right, gather by the flag-draped casket of former premier Louis Robichaud during a public visitation in Moncton on Monday, Jan. 10, 2005.

Lord has come under fire from the late premier's widow for comments he made earlier this week.
Premier Bernard Lord isn't backing away from labelling a New Brunswick public policy expert a Liberal partisan, but acknowledged Wednesday he shouldn't have mentioned Donald Savoie planned Louis J. Robichaud's funeral.

Lord has come under fire from the late premier's widow, Jacqueline Robichaud, who is asking for a public apology for comments he made earlier this week.

Mr. Lord had stated Savoie, an professor at the Université de Moncton, was a partisan Liberal and that his views on the Conservative election platform should be taken "with a grain of salt."

As evidence of this fact, Lord mentioned Savoie wrote a book about former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna and that he planned Robichaud's well-publicized funeral in 2005.

Robichaud died on Jan. 6, 2005 at the age of 79.

Lord, who nominated Robichaud for the Order of New Brunswick, said he never intended to offend the Robichaud family.

"If my words bothered Madame Robichaud, I find that unfortunate, however the fact that I said that Donald Savoie is a known supporter of the Liberal Party and his criticism of our (rural economic development) fund I think has to be taken with a grain of salt, that is what I said," he said.

"Perhaps it would have been better if I would not have used that example.

"I never suggested in any way that the funeral was partisan because I know it wasn't."

"Perhaps it would have been better for me to not to even mention the fact that (Savoie) organized the funeral for Louis Robichaud."

Savoie, who also worked for former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, refused to step into the fray.

"I don't want to partake in that debate," he said.

"I'll let people draw their own conclusions. People who want to go there in that kind of debate can go at it alone.

I won't be part of it."

Savoie had been asked to weigh two economic development funds promised by both the Liberals and the Conservatives in the Sept. 18 election campaign.

The Liberal economic development fund is dedicated to northern regions of the province, while the Conservative fund would be for rural areas across New Brunswick.

Savoie suggested plans to create a rural fund for all regions of the province could water down northern economic development.

Mr. Lord was asked to respond and replied:

"I have respect for Donald Savoie, for the work that he's done. But, I still recognize that he is a partisan person, who has written books on Frank McKenna, who planned the funeral of Louis Robichaud and I respect him for that," he said in French.

"But, I still have to take his counsel and his advice during an election campaign with a grain of salt."

The comment, which was published in part in the L'Acadie Nouvelle newspaper, drew a stern reaction from Robichaud's widow.

In a letter sent to the Telegraph-Journal Wednesday, Robichaud asked Lord to apologize for the comment, adding Savoie was a personal friend of her husband.

"My husband, the honourable Louis J. Robichaud, greatly admired Dr. Donald Savoie, and it was as a personal friend and not for partisanship or political ends that a week before his death, Louis asked Dr. Savoie to take care of all his funeral arrangements," she wrote.

"Mr. Lord, I am deeply offended that you would make such a comment, especially during an election campaign, and I ask, as wife of the greatest premier this province ever produced, that you publicly apologize for this inappropriate comment."

Lord said he never meant to offend the Robichaud family.

"I'm sure that Madame Robichaud loves her late husband dearly and she wants to do everything she can to protect his memory and I understand that and I support her in that and in fact we've done that."

The death of the late premier, who founded the Equal Opportunity Program in New Brunswick, sparked an outpouring of grief among ordinary and high-profile provincial residents.

Lord has often praised the late premier's accomplishments.

He continued to do so on Wednesday.

"The two greatest premiers in New Brunswick's history are Louis Robichaud and Richard Hatfield," he said.

Lord said the provincial government, on his authorization, picked up some of the expenses for the late premier's funeral and he also authorized a monument in Robichaud's honour in St-Antoine.

When the Conservative government adopted a new Official Languages Act in 2000, the premier invited Robichaud to sit at his desk on the floor of the legislature when the bill was passed unanimously by the house.

Don Desserud, a political scientist at the University of New Brunswick, said it was inappropriate for the premier to bring up Robichaud's funeral while campaigning for re-election.

However Desserud said he hopes both parties don't try to exploit the issue during an election campaign.

"People make mistakes.

"The public understands that and apologies go a long way to resolving these things. I don't think either party wants this to become an issue in the campaign," he said.

"I hope the Liberals won't try to exploit this and that the Conservatives will respond evenly with some decorum.

"This is obviously a very private woman who feels her privacy has been violated by a political campaign."

- with files from David Shipley