Saint John East was an exciting place in the last electoral year. Gary Keating and the Liberal Party squeaked out a victory and a steal from the Progressive Conservatives by only 9 votes! Then, unexpectedly, almost immediately after winning the tightest race in the province, Keating resigned. A by-election was called and the PCs took the riding back.
PC incumbent Glen Savoie is reoffering. He won with a confident majority in the by-election. Savoie was part of the Alward government but was not given a cabinet post. He does currently serve as a critic and deputy house leader. His most notable actions in office are asking cabinet ministers to resign and his outrage over the government’s $600 social media video touting the province’s achievements; which he saw as Liberal propaganda despite the ads making no mention of the Liberals.
Liberals are running Clare Manzer, an administrative assistant and lifelong volunteer.
New Democrats are offering Alex White, a university graduate with a political science degree who has worked several service level jobs.
Greens bring forth Lynaya Astephen, a university graduate with a degree in travel and tourism. She runs on a government transparency platform.
People’s Alliance have an interesting, if not problematic, candidate. Pastor and failed mayoral candidate Matthew Thompson who is now more a businessman than minister. You can still find his mayoral platform online in which he made big promises to improve infrastructure, restore city services, grow business, all this and more without increasing taxes. Many of the promises made were outside the purview of a mayor’s power.
Sadly, Saint John East is the antithesis of Saint John Harbour. Where the SJH is a powerful swing riding which forces all parties to put forward the best and brightest; SJE is seen as a Tory safeguard in which nobody puts any strong candidates- even the Tories themselves.
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