FREDERICTON – A backbencher in New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative government has been kicked out of caucus.

Premier David Alward says it was a unanimous decision of the caucus to remove Jim Parrott, who will now sit as an Independent in the provincial legislature.

 In a commentary published last Saturday in the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, Parrott said governments in New Brunswick have not listened to physicians about health care issues over the last 20
years.He said that includes the current government.
 
Parrott is a former heart surgeon in Saint John and was elected in 2010 to represent the riding of Fundy-River Valley.

Alward says he needs to have trust in all members of caucus and that because of ongoing issues with Parrott that trust has been lost.