One of the new super-ridings from the 2013 redistribution which includes former ridings; Shediac-Beaubassin-Cap-Pele, Memramcook-Lakeville-Dieppe, Dieppe, and part of Kent South. Two of those ridings were Liberal strongholds where no other party had a hope in hell. Another was a swing riding which would go back and forth between Grits and Tories. Meanwhile, the chunk they took from Kent South was solid blue for the PCs.
When the numbers are added up, it looks favourable for the Liberal candidate in this riding, who happens to be the leader himself. Brian Gallant is running in what could be a very safe riding indeed. Gallant has three university degrees (buisness and law). He supported himself through law school by starting and operating two small buisnesses. He went on to become a partner at Veritas Law in Dieppe where he worked on immigration law, corporate law, and commercial law. He has been leader of the Liberal Party since 2012.
The other parties haven’t really offered up any exceptional challengers to the Liberal leader. Probably the most interesting of opponents comes from the NDP; Agathe Lapointe. Lapointe has a masters degree in planning and has worked for the Department of Indian Affairs, and has volunteered for the United Nations. However, the flipside of this is that she has spent decades away from not only the province; but from Canada.
Strangely, the Green candidate, Stphanie Matthews, is as far from typical of a Green as I have seen in this election. She left the province for ten years to work in the financial sector of Alberta; allegedly the biggest environmental abuser in the country. There is nothing online that would suggest she spent her time in Alberta fighting tar sands, pipelines, or fracking. However, upon returning to New Brunswick she has taken up permaculture and beekeeping.
PC Delores Poirer is a community event organizer and former convenience store operator.
Read back to a post we wrote earlier about female representation in politics. We discussed how political parties will flush female candidates into no-win scenarios just to say they nominated women. Whenever you see this many women running in a riding you know who the parties expect to win. It’s a sad practice, but the truth is that most men don’t want to risk their political future on running a mediocre campaign against a sure-thing.
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