Higgs’s re-election campaign manager joins premier’s office

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OTTAWA • The manager of Blaine Higgs’s re-election campaign now has a job inside the premier’s office.

Steve Outhouse is Higgs’s new principal secretary.

It’s a position that was left vacant after Paul D’Astous was promoted to chief of staff last year.

It means Outhouse will now draw a public salary, while he continues to get paid by the Progressive Conservatives for campaign consulting work.

Speaking with Brunswick News while in Ottawa on Thursday, Higgs said that dual role isn’t new.

“Paul D’Astous was very active on my campaign before and he came in as principal secretary and then as chief of staff, so it’s not unique,” Higgs said. “Steve came in before for an election we didn’t have.

“Yes, in that sense he was hired, but that election didn’t happen and our plan right now is to not have an election to next fall. And so the purpose now is the organization inside government.”

The position will pay Outhouse up to $124,656.

In an interview, Outhouse said the new position won’t see him physically move from east Ottawa where he currently resides.

“I’ll certainly be spending more time there in New Brunswick, helping out in the office the best I can,” he said. “Being in government, there’s always work to be done.

“There continues to be a lot of day to day government operations that need some help and I have experience in that area.”

It will also see him continue both roles simultaneously.

“Obviously, I’ll be focused on government issues there, but I will still be carrying on that campaign manager role, so it’s just going to be a busy however long it is,” he said.

The Progressive Conservatives have adopted a more aggressive approach since Outhouse joined, launching regular attacks through its social media channels against the opposition Liberals, something Higgs hasn’t done at any point in his government’s six years in power.

The party has also aggressively fundraised both at home and across the country.

In his new role, Higgs pointed to Outhouse having more of a national reach, while noting that the issues New Brunswick is facing are not unique.

“With those sort of connections across the country, I think it’s valuable for the province because I would like to think the province is punching above its weight and has even more potential to do that,” Higgs said.

Outhouse turned heads in conservative circles for his hand in catapulting Leslyn Lewis from a political unknown to a legitimate threat to win the party’s national leadership.

And he then managed Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s election campaign to a majority government win, despite turmoil surrounding the UCP leadership following Jason Kenney’s resignation.

He also has experience as a chief of staff and as director of communications for federal Conservative cabinet ministers, including former fisheries minister Loyola Hearn.

The National Post labelled Outhouse a “campaign closer” a month ago in a list of 12 new conservatives to watch on Canada’s “rapidly rising right.”

Outhouse’s ascent comes six years after Higgs tapped D’Astous, a retired business executive who held senior positions at Assumption Life and Great-West Life, as campaign manager.

D’Astous, a longtime Progressive Conservative insider with decades of local campaigns under his belt, was also a family friend.

“Steve brings a discipline, an organization, and I would say a renewed urgency about things we want to get done,” Higgs said. “So I’m looking forward to working with him in that role.”