Believe it or not there is an election coming up for we New Brunswickers on September 22nd, 2014. The incumbent Progressive Conservatives are led by David Alward; who has had a rather disappointing four years as premier of our beautiful province. When Alward was swept into power with a majority government we were promised a smaller cabinet, less spending, more services, and a different direction from that of former Liberal leader Shawn Graham.
Well, actually Mr Alward has increased the size of cabinet (and in so doing increased the pay for a few ministers). The new Conservative government has actually not changed course on most policies from that of Mr Graham. Most promises made in the 2010 Progressive Conservative platform have not been met (some points have only come to about 50% of what Alward promised us while other platform promises have been dropped entirely). Services have been cut across the board; most notably a recent cut to early education for children with autism. New Brunswick has a very high rate of autism among children and the stepping stones program was already falling short of the requirements for NB- making Alward’s decision to cut the program entirely largely incomprehensible.
The Liberal Party of New Brunswick is being led this year by the young, handsome, and centre-left Brian Gallant. Gallant seems to have galvanized the Liberal body in New Brunswick. Gallant, a charismatic MLA for the riding of Kent has been in the legislature since the by-election in April of 2013. Gallant is so close to the centre of the political spectrum that you may not find much difference between his and the PC Party’s platforms this fall. Gallant has some Liberal favourites on his team; Dr Ed Doherty running for Saint John Habour, Chris Collins in Moncton East, and Denis Landry for the new riding of Bathurst East-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore. In the latest polls Gallant’s Liberals are at 53% to Alward’s 28% (according to Corporate Research Associates).
The Party to watch however may be the polls’ third place party; The New Democrats. Dominic Cardy has assembled a truly eclectic party of fresh faces, former Liberal MLAs (who may resent Gallant’s move to the centre), and even a former Tory; the Honourable Bev Harrison! Two of Cardy’s most interesting candidates (in my humble opinion) are Gary Stackhouse for Saint John Harbour and Brian Duplessis for Fredericton North. Gary Stackhouse is the popular radio host who started a union with six co-workers in 2011 and successfully led a strike against the station who refused increase pay for the employees. Duplessis has an incredibly impressive business record as well as a long record of non-profit work (notably; United Way, Fredericton’s Affordable Housing, and the Community Action Group on Homelessness. Fredericton North truly has the opportunity to vote for an extraordinary change this year.
David Coon is making some waves with his Green Party. The man is easily one of the most knowledgeable of the leaders but lacks the charisma necessary to garner himself too much attention. In person he seems guarded and online is reluctant to make many connections via social media. Still, Coon has more attendees at his Green functions than the New Brunswick Greens have ever seen. Though Coon has some fresh ideas and an innovative plan for recharging New Brunswick’s economy, his candidates are less impressive. It should be noted that there has been some report of former NB NDP candidate Wayne Dryer romancing the Green Party this year after losing the NDP nomination for Saint John Harbour to Gary Stackhouse.
There is also the longshot fifth place party; The People’s Alliance of New Brunswick. As with the last election; they have yet to release a platform but were the first to put up roadside signs. They appear to take no strong stance on any issue other than a free vote for their members. Also, they erected their signs so early that they may have broken one or two election rules already; but that’s just conjecture. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with this group.
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