Blaine Higgs and the Progressive Conservatives wanted stability for the government. The New Brunswick voters gave the party a majority government last night. After 2 years of the first minority government in about 100 years, Higgs called a snap election during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
The PCs got 27 seats in the 49-seat assembly. The party won 22 seats in 2018, down to 20 before the 2020 election. The Liberals fell from 20 seats to 17 seats. The Green Party stayed at 3 seats while the right-wing People's Alliance fell from 3 seats to 2 seats.
Higgs is the first premier to win a second term since Bernard Lord (Progressive Conservatives) in 2003.
Canada is a safer place for abortion though access should be improved
Hospital cuts — threatened and then taken back by Higgs — will be a top concern. Access to abortion — a long-standing issue — is another concern. The government only reimburses for abortions at 3 hospitals in the province, two in Moncton and one in Bathurst. The PCs won't reimburse abortions at Clinic 554, a family practice in Fredericton.
The Liberals generally do well in the Francophone areas to the north. The PCs picked up some urban seats in the 3 major cities: Fredericton (the capital), Moncton, and Saint John.
The PCs elected a single francophone in Daniel Allain (Moncton East). Higgs hasn't proven to be empathic to the cultural circumstances in francophone ridings in the north of the province.
Colbert Report shows love for Kevin Vickers
Reflections on the Ottawa shooting
You might know Kevin Vickers for his actions as sergeant-at-arms at the House of Commons when he shot a gunman who stormed Parliament Hill in 2014. Vickers then served as the Canadian ambassador to Ireland.
Vickers had never run in an election and his first election was as Liberal Party leader in this election.
Michelle Conroy (People's Alliance) was the incumbent in the Miramichi riding where Vickers ran. Conroy won again.
Vickers announced on CBC New Brunswick that he would step down as Liberal Party leader. He didn't give a speech, which was a bit of a surprise.
Despite all of Vickers heroics throughout his life, he might have been in over his head. The ground game politicians want to do was more difficult in a pandemic. Vickers has national name recognition but needed to build up local name recognition.
New Brunswick is calling a provincial election in a pandemic
Green Party leader David Coon won re-election as did his 2 other fellow Green Party MLAs.
People's Alliance leader Kris Austin and Michelle Conroy were re-elected. Rick DeSaulniers lost his re-election bid. Austin was the only one to give a speech that had no French.
Canadian politics notebook: Upcoming elections in a pandemic
The successful reaction to managing the COVID-19 pandemic was considered a significant factor in the PCs getting a majority government. There was a new COVID-19 case in New Brunswick yesterday. NB Public Health said the person who tested positive is travel-related and the individual is self-isolating. The person is in their 20s in Zone 1, the Moncton region.
The number of active cases is now 3. New Brunswick has had 194 cases, and 189 people have recovered and 2 deaths. Not in a day or a month but since the pandemic started.
New Brunswick will have a minority government
2018 New Brunswick election preview
Canadian travel bubbles could boost tourism within Canada
New Brunswick cartoonist dismissal symptom of larger Canadian media concern
The U.S. has specific age requirements for federal offices: 25 for the House, 30 for the Senate, and 35 for president and vice president. Canada requires a person to be 18.
Rowan Miller, 24, ran for the Green Party in the 2019 federal election and ran for the Green Party in the Carleton-Victoria riding. Meriet Miller, 19, is Rowan's younger brother. NDP provincial leader Mackenzie Thomason went to university with Rowan. Thomason recruited Meriet to run against Rowan as a NDP candidate.
How did the brothers do? Which brother got more votes?
Andrew Harvey (Liberal) was the incumbent in the riding but finished in second to Margaret Johnson (Progressive Conservatives). Terry Leigh Sisson (People's Alliance) came in third.
Rowan got 5.1% of the vote, 372 votes. Meriet had 1.5%, or 113 votes. Rowan got more than 3x as many votes as his younger brother. Combined, they had fewer votes than Sisson.
The brothers are still rather young. They have many more elections to engage each other and the voters.
Today Monday, September 7 at 12:00pm there will be a special #LabourDay2020 address in front of St. Josephs Hospital 130 Bayard Dr, Saint John. Everyone is encouraged to attend. pic.twitter.com/gep92IcoHB
— New Brunswick NDP / NPD du Nouveau-Brunswick (@NBNDP_NPDNB) September 7, 2020
This tweet from the NDP was significant since this was the first tweet issued by the party in almost 2 years. The previous tweet ran on September 24, 2018. We know that the NDP was in turmoil, now running with interim leader Mackenzie Thomason. The election was called in mid August but the party didn't send out a tweet until a week before the election.
Can't blame this on a lack of technology connected with age since Thomason is 23. Better late than never but social media can fit within the budget of a struggling party with 0 seats in Fredericton.
The NDP won 0 seats in the 2020 election. Thomason came in 5th in the Fredericton North riding with 100 votes.
2020 Canadian politics preview
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
CanadianCrossing.com New Brunswick coverage
The 2020 New Brunswick election turnout was 65.9%, down slightly from 67.1% in 2018. Not quite Prince Edward Island numbers; the U.S. would drool over that kind of a turnout.
More than 63,000 New Brunswick residents headed to the polls on the first of two days of advance voting, according to Elections New Brunswick. In 2018, just over 43,500 electors voted on the first day of advance polls.
The campaign was more about door hangers and not knocking on doors. Incumbent MLAs benefited from name recognition in their ridings where learning the opponents was a challenge. This isn't too much TV advertising in New Brunswick with the bilingual situation and very few TV stations.
The new assembly has 14 of 49 seats for women with 9 for the PCs, a new party record. New Brunswick has no current female party leaders, though the Liberals and the NDP have openings.
CBAT Channel 4, CBC in Fredericton carried the election coverage instead of the NHL Stanley Cup playoff game. The coverage ended at 11 pm Atlantic, 10 pm Eastern, about 2 hours after the game started. Fans could catch the overtime of the final game in that series. The hockey was also on Rogers Sportsnet plus Canadians could stream the election coverage and the game on CBCSports.ca. Yes, there is only CBC station in New Brunswick.
photo credits: CBC News New Brunswick
Comments