N.B. election campaign to kick off Thursday, with economy and health major themes

FREDERICTON — New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is expected to officially kick off a provincial election campaign Thursday morning with a visit to the lieutenant-governor.

Opposition parties got a head start, with the Liberals releasing their platform 10 days ago and the Greens launching their campaign Wednesday.

Under the province’s fixed-date election law, the vote will take place on Oct. 21.

Central campaign themes are expected to include economic issues, health care, the Progressive Conservative government’s gender identity policy in schools, forced treatment for drug users, and Ottawa’s request that the province welcome more asylum seekers.

Higgs, who was first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2020, has already promised to lower the harmonized sales tax to 13 per cent from 15 per cent over a two-year period.

The Liberals have promised to open at least 30 community health clinics over the next four years.

The Greens, meanwhile, say they will create an “electricity support program,” which would give families earning less than $70,000 annually about $25 per month to offset rate increases. They also promised to impose rent caps.

Politics in the province have been charged since the government changed the policy on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools in June 2023, which required teachers to obtain parental consent before using the preferred name and pronouns of students under 16.

Members of Higgs’s caucus, including cabinet ministers, came out strongly against that decision, and also against his leadership style. Twelve members of the legislature elected in 2020 with Higgs’s Tories are not running this time.

Adding to the heated political atmosphere is a proposal by the Progressive Conservatives to force drug users into treatment centres, as well as Higgs’s refusal to welcome significantly more asylum seekers.

The Progressive Conservative campaign has also sought to link Liberal Leader Susan Holt and Green Leader David Coon to Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — who has seen his star fade over the past few months.

“Both Holt and Coon chose to side with Justin Trudeau’s proposal to move 4,600 asylum seekers out of Quebec and Ontario and relocate them into New Brunswick,” said a Tory party newsletter earlier this week.

Coon, however, told reporters Wednesday he doesn’t think people see himself or Holt as tied to the federal Liberals.

“People aren’t buying that message. That’s ridiculous,” the Green leader said after officially launching his party’s campaign.

“Look, we’ve hit a lot of doors already, a lot of doors — collectively and individually — and I’m not hearing any of that nonsense at the door at all. I’m hearing people are fed up with Trudeau, no question.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press