New Brunswick, sadly, is not a province known for being progressive. Provincially we tend to be stuck to two mainstream parties who almost share a common platform (though we achieved a milestone in our history by electing Green Leader David Coon in our last provincial election). Likewise, we tend to only send one of two options Ottawa. But some polls are suggesting all that may be changing.
Some stunning seat projections show New Brunswickers may actually send up to four New Democrats to Ottawa in October. Tory support in the province is down across the board, Liberals are surging, Greens have seen a few bursts of support but have again begun to slump, and the NDP are looking at record levels of support in Fredericton and Saint John. Three weeks ago, Fredericton was a statistical tie between the Conservatives, Liberals, and New Democrats- though the Liberals have since broken well ahead of the pack in the capital city. Saint John however tells a different story. Polls from the port city are showing NDP candidate AJ Griffin in the lead.
It is difficult to believe Griffin could be doing so well; she doesn’t have any sign ups in the city yet, hasn’t yet opened her campaign headquarters (that comes on September 8th), and was the last candidate nominated between herself, the tories’ Rodney Weston, and Liberal Wayne Long. By the time Griffin gets her signs ready for display, she may find it difficult to find the real estate as Weston and Long have painted the town red and blue- in many cases littering fields and roadsides with repeats of signs back-to-back (just in case you missed the first half-dozen). But Weston’s lackluster performance in the commons and a general Harper-fatigue seem to have set in across the riding of Saint John-Rothesay causing the NDP to poll higher in the riding before they even had a candidate.
Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe is also showing sign of serious Blue Party Blues and have placed the incumbent Robert Goguen in third place at 20% of the vote. Liberal Candidate Ginette Petitpas-Taylor is currently enjoying 45% support of those polled.
Sadly for Elizabeth May and her Green Machine, the NB riding where they have the highest support is Fredericton at a meager 10.4%. May and David Coon teamed up to rally up support in the city, but to little avail.
The three ridings which are most likely to remain true to the blues are currently Fundy Royal, New Brunswick Southwest, and Tobique-Mactaquac.
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