Two MPs in New Brunswick are blocking Frank McKenna's bid to run for a seat in the next federal election.

Labour Minister Claudette Bradshaw and MP Dominic LeBlanc, each representing ridings in eastern New Brunswick, have said they won't step aside to grant McKenna's wish of running in a riding close to his home.

Bradshaw, the MP for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, said McKenna must challenge her for the Liberal nomination if he wants the seat.

"It is a democracy, McKenna can be there if he so wishes," Bradshaw told the Moncton Times and Transcript. "My papers are there, and I will be at the nomination."

McKenna has a condition for his federal bid: he wants a seat in an uncontested riding that is "generally in the area where I live and work."

McKenna works in Moncton but lives in nearby Cap-Pele, N.B., which is in LeBlanc's riding, Beausejour-Petitcodiac. Leblanc has also already filed his nomination papers, and says he'll stick around for the next election.

The Liberal attempt to find McKenna a seat is attracting criticism from other politicians. Elizabeth Weir, leader of the New Brunswick NDP, said it is insulting that the party is pressuring Bradshaw to make room for McKenna.

"It seems to me that Frank McKenna could find and run in his own riding rather than shove out the only woman cabinet minister in Atlantic Canada," said Weir. "It really raises questions about Paul Martin's Liberals when you see them deliver that knock-out blow to Sheila Copps and now treat Claudette Bradshaw with such disrespect."

"If Frank McKenna wants to get to the House of Commons, he shouldn't expect to have an easy ride," she added.