External consultant controversy a first test for Wakeham government

It certainly doesn’t take long for a new government to stumble into controversy; sometimes they don’t even need to be in office yet. 

In the case of the Newfoundland and Labrador Progressive Conservatives, controversy has arisen surrounding the appointment of Conservative consultant Steve Outhouse to the PC transition team. 

Outhouse isn’t a local PC operator; his Twitter profile describes him as “a Nova Scotian living in Ottawa.” But he’s served as a consultant with conservative governments in Alberta and New Brunswick, which is the cause of much of the controversy around his appointment by Tony Wakeham, who was sworn in as the province’s 16th premier Wednesday. The former Baptist preacher’s Twitter bio also describes him as a “Christ-follower,” and he’s a member of the Canada Strong & Free Network (which has donated thousands of dollars to local right-wing group NL Strong).

Community organizations like the provincial Anti-Hate Coalition have spoken out vociferously against Outhouse’s appointment, warning that his association with other far-right conservative politicians could be a sign that Conservative politicians want to take advantage of the PC election victory to bring their Trump-style culture wars to this province. 

Indeed, it didn’t take long for Pierre Poilievre to set his sights on this province. No sooner had the election results been announced than he surfaced, like a beady-eyed sculpin clinging to a rising net, trying to frame the narrative as part of a national Conservative sweep. In fact, the NL Progressive Conservative party couldn’t be more distinct from its federal counterpart, and that’s a good thing. Remember this is the province where a PC premier led a national “Anything But Conservative” campaign against federal Conservatives in 2008, and where PC legislation—from cutting tuition fees and increasing post-secondary funding, to helping unions with a (short-lived) return to card-check recognition for union drives—has often been diametrically opposite to federal Conservative policy. Our PC politicians march in Pride parades and post celebratory messages on Trans Day of Visibility. It’s not uncommon for them to be more left than Liberals.

The concern, of course, is that Outhouse and his like—highly-paid influencers from mainland Canada’s far-right Conservative corners—are here to change that. 

Isn’t this the government that committed to ending high-paid external consultants?

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians ought to be concerned, not just because of Outhouse’s ties to far-right Conservatism, but also because of the external influence he represents on the Wakeham government. In a province full of experienced civil servants and administrators—with plenty of experienced professionals who worked in previous PC administrations—why the need to bring in a non-Newfoundlander, particularly one associated with the most extreme and scandal-ridden Conservative governments in the country (and an election campaign that went down in electoral flames after dividing the province of New Brunswick)?

Outhouse represents something that ought to concern all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians regardless of their political stripes: the external consultant flown in over the heads of locals who could do the job just as well, arriving in St. John’s to line their pockets with publicly funded dollars which they’ll just as quickly remove from our provincial economy when they leave for the next well-paying gig in another province. 

Outhouse is the political equivalent of the scandal-ridden travel nurse, flown in at tremendous public expense while local healthcare workers wonder why they can’t get a job. He’s the political equivalent of the external consultant brought in to review a program or provide recommendations which it is properly the purview of local politicians to do, only it’s easier—if more expensive—to contract the work out to so-called experts from other provinces with fancy bios and letters behind their names (but few authentic connections to local community). 

Outhouse is also close to federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, someone for whom even many Progressive Conservatives have a profound distaste. Is his appointment an appeal of some sort from the Wakeham team to Poilievre? This is not necessarily something PC voters had in mind, given the strong historical distinctions between federal and provincial conservative parties. 

Many voted for the Wakeham government because they sought an end to the wasteful and tired practice of bringing so-called experts into the province to do jobs that could be done just as well, and probably better, by a Newfoundlander or Labradorian. Waltzing a controversial figure like Outhouse in for a plum role on the PC transition team sends an alarming signal that Wakeham’s administration has caved to the temptation of following in Liberal footsteps, ceding important local jobs and responsibilities to the most expensive outsiders. It’s not just that we don’t want Outhouse—although I’m sure many do not—it’s that we don’t need him. A responsible government dedicated to growing local solutions to local problems ought not to be involving external consultants like him at all. 

“We will end waste on outside travel nurse agencies, foreign sponsorships, and bloated contracts,” the PCs promised in their election platform. Well here’s a bloated contract that could use some rapid ending.

Conservative chaos in New Brunswick

It’s worth revisiting the disaster which was a PC government in New Brunswick. In 2023 the provincial Department of Education and Childhood Development announced a review of its very sensible and evidence-based policy around sexual orientation and gender identity. The Blaine Higgs government claimed this was due to “hundreds of letters” from the public complaining about the policy. Following ATIPP requests, which the Higgs government fought, it was revealed that was not the case. There were a series of complaints to the premier’s office about ‘drag storytimes’ and sex ed curricula—-using slurs like ‘grooming’ which are a hallmark of far-right political campaigns—but none of those items have anything to do with the policy. New Brunswick’s Child and Youth Advocate, who loudly denounced the review, said only three complaints were received to his department over the course of 30 months; an ATIPP to the Department of Education revealed none.

The review divided the PC Party and the PC minister of social development resigned after supporting an opposition motion that tried to slow down the changes; other elected PCs also joined the Opposition in fighting Higgs on this. Many leading PCs in that province spoke out in opposition. Higgs stubbornly pushed forward; when he eventually rammed through changes to the policy the school boards fought back and flatly refused to implement them. 

In turn, the PC government threatened to dissolve a rebellious school board and the two went to court. The matter was never ruled upon since the PC Party, unsurprisingly, went down in flames in a 2024 provincial election, their crashing fortunes presided over by none other than Outhouse himself as Higgs’ secretary and campaign manager. Following two years of needless chaos over a culture war triggered by a few far-right conservatives who had insinuated themselves in the party, the province breathed a sigh of relief and returned to a much less tumultuous Liberal government. 

A repeat of this disaster is the last thing our province needs at this time; we have an economy to rebuild amid a cost-of-living and housing crisis.

PC’s tapping of controversial conservative strategist sparks fear, ire

Outhouse’s appointment drew ire from New Brunswick media and public as well, for his $20,766-a-month salary at taxpayers’ expense. Commentators criticized the fact he was being paid for both a gig as the premier’s secretary as well as the party’s election campaign manager, which critics feared would lead to a blurring of the roles between partisan campaigner and political bureaucrat. New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon called him a “hired gun.”

Outhouse also managed campaigns for Leslyn Lewis, a Conservative federal politician who fought against the ban on abusive conversion therapy, committed to banning some abortion procedures, cutting international aid for abortion services and boosting funding for anti-choice groups. In 2023 she also sparked controversy by meeting with a representative of the far-right, pseudo-Nazi German political party Alternativ fur Deutschland (which has even been criticized by Poilievre as “vile” and “racist”). Last year she made headlines by calling for Canada to leave the United Nations. 

These are the sorts of Trump-style far-right politicians that Outhouse has been associated with. 

The Newfoundland and Labrador PC Party has done an admirable job of staying the course thus far. Wakeham marched in the 2025 Pride Parade and his party has an out lesbian MHA who’s held in high regard across party lines. There are solid MHAs with experience in human rights and equity issues in his cabinet: Harbour Main MHA Helen Ottenheimer as Minister of Justice and Minister of Women and Gender Equality is an excellent appointment (even though she has a daunting surplus of portfolios to cover), as is Torngat Mountains MHA Lela Evans’ appointment as Minister of Health and Community Services (among other portfolios).

Yet Outhouse’s continued presence will be a thorn in Wakeham’s side. In response to a question from The Telegram following his swearing-in ceremony Wednesday, Wakeham defended Outhouse’s appointment, calling him “one of the most professional people I know.

“He’s been involved with me since my campaign for leadership, off and on. He’s provided advice to us. He’s one of the best organizers and political minds in the country when it comes to how we organize, how we collect data and all of that,” the premier continued. “That’s it, that’s been his role, and I’m very proud to have him as part of our team. But I will say this, if you look through what our blue book is and what we’ve stated in our blue book, that I intend to run a government for all of us.”

NDP leader condemns Wakeham, PCs over appointment of conservative strategist Steve Outhouse

It’s important to remember that most voters didn’t vote for the PCs with any kind of a Newfoundland and Labrador culture war in mind. Some rural voters voted PC out of frustrated desperation at the Liberals’ hell-or-high-water push for energy developments—from wind energy to the Churchill Falls MOU with Quebec—that threaten rural communities and ways of life. They voted for a PC Party that was even more up-front with its commitments to equity than the Liberals: a PC-led province would “​​be equitable and inclusive, where people are embraced for their rich diversity, experiences and perspectives,” the party’s election platform states, also committing to a key demand of the province’s equity-seeking and 2SLGBTQ+ community groups: “multi-year, core operational funding.” The platform also commits to “inform decisions with a gender-based plus analysis.” 

No matter which way you look at it, Outhouse’s appointment threatens voter faith that the Wakeham government will stick to its commitments not just around equity but around ending waste, ending bloated external consultant contracts, ending the hell-or-high-water reliance on rich people from outside our province to make decisions that are rammed through over the objections of our local communities.

Their decision on what to do about Outhouse will be a clear bellwether of how much integrity an elected PC government will have not just to its electoral platform, but to its strong heritage on human rights and its commitment to all of our communities.