Potential candidates making decisions in case of early election
Cabinet minister, city councillor, Acadian activist among those saying they’ll run
Premier Blaine Higgs has forced their hands by refusing to rule out a snap election call this fall.
"I'm going to run in the next election," said cabinet minister and Fredericton North Progressive Conservative MLA Jill Green, one of many Tories whose futures have been uncertain in recent months.
"It's kind of fun to say that now. It took me a long time to decide but it kind of feels good to get it out."
Premier
Blaine Higgs is suggesting that he may be forced to ask for a snap
election — just as he argued he was forced into doing in 2020. (Lars Schwarz/CBC)
Among opposition parties as well, candidates who might otherwise have been able to wait until closer to the officially scheduled date of Oct. 21, 2024, are declaring their intentions now.
Saint John Coun. David Hickey is one of two candidates who have announced they'll seek the Liberal nomination to run in Saint John Harbour, a seat now held by PC cabinet minister Arlene Dunn.
Hickey says many of the issues he has confronted as a municipal councillor, from housing to mental health care, can only be resolved in the legislature.
"At every hurdle, at every roadblock, I seem to end up at the province. So I figure it's about time to go there."
Another high-profile candidate for the Liberals is Alexandre Cedric-Doucet, former president of the Acadian Society of New Brunswick, who plans to run in Moncton East.
But Saint John-Rothesay Liberal MP Wayne Long, who decided earlier this year not to run again federally, says he won't make the leap to provincial politics he's been mulling, if the election is called this fall.
"I've got much I need to see through here," Long said in a text message from Ottawa.
"My community needs leadership and [needs] me exactly where I'm at right now."
Saint John MP Wayne Long says the timing is for a provincial run if an election is called this fall. (CBC)
Long said he'll "definitely" look at running provincially if the election is next fall.
Meanwhile, Serge Brideau, who won 35 per cent of the vote as the Green candidate in the Bathurst East-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore by-election won by Liberal leader Susan Holt in April, said he is reflecting on whether to try again.
He said an election this fall would complicate plans he has made with his rock band, Les Hôtesses d'Hilaire.
"I have a lot of things to take into account," he said.
Serge Brideau of the folk-rock band Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire said he is thinking about whether to run again. (Yves Levesque/Radio-Canada)
Green says a campaign this year isn't ideal for her because she's been in chemotherapy for lymphoma, a form of cancer.
"The prognosis is great. I'm handling the chemo very, very well, but it makes it difficult to run a campaign," she said.
"It's going to be hard to knock on doors. The energy level may be a little bit harder than it would normally be. But I'm game. I'll do what I need to do."
Green says she's opting to seek a second mandate because she doesn't want to abandon the work she has started on several major issues, including housing.
"I'm just starting so I'm not ready to be done," said Green.
'On the progressive side,' says Green
The former business owner first ran for the PCs in 2018. She lost to Liberal Stephen Horsman, but beat him in a 2020 rematch.
Green was among eight PC MLAs who refused to take their seats in the legislature June 8 over Higgs's handling of a review of Policy 713, which sets out how to create safe, inclusive spaces for LGBTQ students in provincial schools.
Green was away a week later when six of those MLAs voted with the opposition Liberals to pass a motion calling for further consultations.
Among the six, two ministers resigned from cabinet and two others were shuffled out. None of the six have committed to running in the next election, and at least two have ruled out being on the ballot with Higgs as leader.
A number of protests against government changes to Policy 713 have been held in New Brunswick over the past several months. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
But Green says she wants to stick it out in part to continue to work, she says, as an LGBTQ ally on the inside.
"I am a Progressive Conservative. I am happy to be part of this team," she said.
"I am very far on the progressive side. I think that's been obvious since I've been here. And we need me in the party too, and we need my voice. So I'm going to continue working towards supporting the progressive side of the Progressive Conservatives."
She said she and Higgs "get along well. We have very hard discussions sometimes but he's an easy man to have hard discussions with."
Spokespersons for Higgs and the PC party did not respond to emailed questions about whether the premier would sign nomination papers of any of the six who voted with the Liberals, if they choose to try to run again.
Dunn, first elected for the PCs in Saint John Harbour in 2020, said she hadn't "quite yet decided" whether to re-offer.
Besides Hickey, investment advisor Ryan Moore is also seeking the Liberal nomination to run in the riding — a constituency that has flipped between the NDP, Liberals and Tories over the last couple of decades.
Hickey says housing, poverty and mental health are acute issues in Saint John's uptown and the province hasn't moved fast enough on them since Higgs took power in 2018.
New provincial NDP leader Alex White did not respond to a request from CBC News to find out where he plans to run.
And the People's Alliance, led by former Fredericton-York MLA Rick DeSaulniers, did not respond to questions about if or where he will run.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"Another high-profile candidate for the Liberals is Alexandre Cedric-Doucet, former president of the Acadian Society of New Brunswick, who plans to run in Moncton East. "
Too Too Funny
Higgs says his government 'cannot function' with PC MLAs offside
Premier rejects promise from 6 defiant Tories, another sign of possible snap election
Jacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: Oct 04, 2023 2:33 PM ADT
Content Deactivated
Ronald Miller
Reply to Matthew Steele
The best news is Canada continues to have ZERO Lib majority gov'ts, and their numbers continue to fall everywhere.
G. Timothy Walton
Reply to Ronald Miller
Even better is that an incumbent party trying the Higgs method got crushed in Manitoba.
Ronald Miller
Content Deactivated
Reply by G. Timothy Walton
G. Timothy Walton
Reply to Ronald Miller
That's like saying one is lucky to have a skin rash.
G. Timothy Walton
Reply to Ronald Miller
You might feel lucky; I feel embarrassed.
David R. Amos.
Reply to Ronald Miller
So you say
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Ronald Miller
PCs are the only obvious choice, the Libs have a leader no one has heard from in months and can't even keep her staff around.
Bobby Richards
Reply to Ronald Miller
PCs got trounced in Manitoba last night. It will be interesting to see what happens in NB.
Ronald Miller
Reply to Bobby Richards
42% of the vote, hardly trounced, but congrats to the NDP, hopefully they can garner some favour with their NDP party in Ottawa that keeps that circus afloat. Where did the Libs end up in Manitoba, now that is a trouncing.
G. Timothy Walton
Reply to Ronald Miller
The Manitoba Liberals were a third party and remain a third party, unable to field a full slate of candidates.
Think New Brunswick NDP back in Elizabeth Weir's day.
Bobby Richards
Reply to Ronald Miller
Lost 13 seats including 5 cabinet ministers
Ronald Miller
Content Deactivated
Reply to G. Timothy Walton
G. Timothy Walton
Reply to Ronald Miller
People have forgotten what it was like under the tax cut and spend Harper government. Worse scandals and even worse ethics.
David R. Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ronald Miller
Spin much?
FYI I was in very poor health the last time I ran. I promised the folks in Hampton during the last debate 2019 that I would never run again after accurately predicting the outcome of the election and explained we get the governments we deserve because greed and apathy rule the day.
These days when I wake up in the morning I am the first one to be surprised that I am still alive and my dog is very pleased as well. I spend my days watching the worldwide circus and talking to a lot of lawyers, politicians and bureaucrats etc. before I send them emails proving what I said is true. Trust that there is a lot fun to be found poking holes in the stuffed shirts of sheople who will never admit that they know me.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/higgs-says-government-cannot-function-1.6986497
Higgs says his government 'cannot function' with PC MLAs offside
Premier rejects promise from 6 defiant Tories, another sign of possible snap election
The premier says in a statement to CBC News and Radio-Canada that their collective promise and their insistence that the PC caucus have more input into decisions are actually signs of potential instability.
An Aug. 10 letter from the six members "clearly signifies the intent of these six MLAs is to continue to function as an independent group deciding when and where they will be supportive of government's agenda," Higgs said.
"A government cannot function in this manner. On many topics, consensus is not always achieved, but democracy works because the majority of participants support the agenda."
Trevor Holder, the MLA for Portland-Simonds, said there is no reason for Higgs to call an election this fall. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
That statement led one of the six PC MLAs, Trevor Holder, to make an emotional rebuttal.
"I have been a Tory my whole life. I'm a Tory now and I'll always be a Tory. That is never going to change," he told CBC and Radio-Canada.
"The way caucus is supposed to function is you stay in the room until you build consensus on any issue or you park the issue until you find consensus. That is all the six of us were trying to say in that letter this summer."
Holder, the MLA for Portland-Simonds, said there is no reason for Higgs to call an election this fall.
"We can all get back in the room and continue out the last year of our mandate and stick to our promises of fiscal accountability, economic expansion and population growth," he said.
"That's what I ran on in the last election. I made a commitment to the people of my riding I'd be here for four years to fight for those things."
Higgs said last month the defiance of the six Tories in June "remains a big concern" and could lead him to call an election before the scheduled date of Oct. 21, 2024, to avoid "12 months of political drama causing instability and stagnation in government."
The PCs have 29 seats in the 49-member legislature, so the six MLAs have the votes to stall or block government legislation.
In June, they voted with the opposition Liberals for a motion calling for further consultations on Policy 713, which sets out guidelines for safe and inclusive spaces for LGBTQ students in provincial schools.
Holder, the longest-serving MLA in the legislature, resigned as a minister in Higgs's cabinet a few days later, in the wake of his colleague Dorothy Shephard's resignation.
On Wednesday, Holder became emotional describing how he feels about the state of the PC party that he's worked for since he was a teenager.
"My children have never once complained about the publicness of our lives until this June, when, the night before I resigned, my daughter said to me, 'Daddy, I want this to end,'" he said.
"That's what led to my resignation the next day. And I hoped it was going to start a conversation about how we could get back to a thoughtful, consensus-building style of government in this province and in our party."
The Aug. 10 letter to the PC caucus, signed by the six dissident MLAs, committed to not holding up the government agenda in a new session of the legislature this fall.
It also included a plea that Higgs allow the entire PC caucus to "deliberate, discuss, and collectively decide on policy matters and legislative actions" — something the six accused him of not doing on Policy 713.
PC
MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason said the premier is looking to fight an
election over Policy 713. Ross Wetmore says the premier has broken a
promise. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Four other PC MLAs from the group of six pushed back Wednesday at Higgs's statement that the government "cannot function," accusing the premier of breaking a promise to hold a full caucus meeting to mend fences.
"That commitment was made June 24 and has not been met as of today," said Ross Wetmore.
Andrea Anderson-Mason called the refusal to meet "a unilateral termination of the relationship" by a premier looking to fight an election over Policy 713.
"I think that he may be using us as the reason why he needs to call an election," she said.
"But … if you have concerns about how people are going to behave, you communicate with them."
MLAs Jeff Carr, left, and Daniel Allain were shuffled out of the cabinet after voting with opposition Liberals on Policy 713. (CBC)
Jeff Carr and Dorothy Shephard also said they have no desire to hijack the government's agenda and only want a greater role for the caucus.
Carr also urged Higgs not to call an election this fall.
"My constituents elected me to serve them for four years," he said. "They deserve that respect."
A spokesperson said Higgs was not available for an interview Wednesday.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David R. Amos
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I'm Back
Piper Cheval
Reply to Sam Stanley
This is Canada Vlad, every vote is a left vote. Canadians are very socialist, it just matters to what degree. The tRump populous Anger, Fabrication Nonsense is not a thing here. See - Recent Manitoba Election.
Matthew Steele
Caucus wanting more input is understandable. Higgs saying that is a sign of instability is paranoia. You won't get any votes from me or my family
Jonathan Martin
Reply to Matthew Steele
great go vote green then.
Clive Gibbons
Reply to Jonathan Martin
I did, and I will again. My Green MLA works for their constituents, not the party.
David R. Amos
Reply to Clive Gibbons
Green leader says he'd strike deal with Liberals to oust Higgs
If PCs fall short of majority in snap election, Coon says he’d work with Holt to replace premier
Jacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: Sep 28, 2023 7:00 AM ADT
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