New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs will no longer be Quispamsis’ representative.
Higgs, seeking a third premiership, lost his seat to Liberal Aaron Kennedy, a trend that reflects the final result: a Liberal majority with Susan Holt becoming the province’s first female premier, preliminary results show of Monday’s elections.
“It’s certainly not the night we expected, but it is what it is,” Higgs told supporters at his rally.
Higgs said his party will begin discussing the leadership transition in the coming days.
“Once those discussions are completed, I will make a formal announcement,” he added.
Higgs, 70, has been PC leader since 2016 and premier of New Brunswick since 2018. He was first elected to the legislature in 2010.
Global News projected a Liberal majority government Monday night after a 33-day campaign that was considered a close race between Holt and Higgs.
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Higgs had hoped to become the first New Brunswick premier to win three consecutive elections since Liberal Frank McKenna won his third straight majority in 1995. But his path to that milestone wasn’t going to be easy.
Since forming government in 2018, 14 members of the PC caucus have resigned after clashing with Higgs, some of them citing what they described as an authoritarian leadership style and a focus on conservative policies that represented a sharp shift to the right.
A caucus revolt broke out last year after Higgs announced changes to the gender identity policy, known as Policy 713, in schools. When several PC lawmakers voted in favor of an external review of the change, Higgs expelled the dissenters from the cabinet. An attempt by some party members to initiate a leadership review went nowhere.
The election race focused heavily on health care and affordability, but was notable for the two leaders’ strikingly different campaign styles.
Higgs focused on the high cost of living and promised to reduce the harmonized provincial sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent, a promise that will cost the province about $450 million a year.
Holt spent much of the campaign implementing proposed solutions to a health care system plagued by doctor shortages, overcrowded emergency rooms and long wait times.
Higgs said Holt has earned the “trust of the people.”
“I wished him, and I wish him here, every success as he takes on the challenges that lie ahead,” he said.
“I’m proud of the campaign we ran, which focused on making New Brunswick a better place for all of us.”
At the time of its dissolution more than a month ago, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Greens three, one independent and four vacancies.
As of 10:30 p.m. Atlantic time on Monday, the Liberals had 31 seats, the Conservatives 16 and the Greens two. Voter turnout was around 66 percent.
– with files from The Canadian Press
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
