Incumbents lose, as county voters elect PC candidates

Charlotte County voters apparently wanted change when they went to the polls in the 39th New Brunswick provincial general election on September 24.
In the Saint Croix riding, which includes St. Stephen, St. Andrews, Campobello Island and stretches north to McAdam, former federal cabinet minister Greg Thompson running under the Progressive Conservative banner beat Liberal Tourism, Heritage and Culture Minister John Ames, 3,249 votes to 2,436. People's Alliance candidate Joyce Wright won 1,466 votes, Green Party candidate Donna Linton 1,047 votes and New Democratic Party candidate Jan Underhill 89. A total of 8,301 people, 68% of the 12,170 registered voters, cast their ballots, according to numbers posted by Elections New Brunswick.
Next door in Fundy‑The Isles‑Saint John West, including Deer Island, Grand Manan, St. George, Blacks Harbour and up the Fundy coast to take in part of the city of Saint John, St. George lawyer Andrea Anderson‑Mason, the Progressive Conservative candidate, upset Liberal Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries Minister Rick Doucet 3,808 votes to 2,422. Elections New Brunswick reported 1,104 votes for People's Alliance candidate Doug Ellis, 469 for Green Party candidate Romey Heuff and 203 for New Democrat Keith LeBlanc. A total of 8,029 people, 71% of the 11,303 registered voters, cast their ballots.
Elections New Brunswick contracted a fishing boat to make three trips to deliver material and equipment including tabulation machines to Campobello Island, spokesman Paul Harpelle says. The agency did not want border issues at Calais to delay delivery, Harpelle says.
The mood was jubilant in the Progressive Conservative campaign headquarters on Milltown Boulevard not far from the Ferry Point Bridge to Calais even before Thompson arrived at about 9 p.m., an hour after the polls closed. Ames walked over from the Liberal campaign headquarters a couple of doors closer to the bridge to offer congratulations.
"People evidently wanted a change, and change is what they're going to get," Ames said in an interview after offering congratulations to Thompson. He served a single term as a member of the legislative assembly following his election in 2014. Ames, a history teacher by trade, served as deputy mayor of St. Stephen before that. He said that both he and Thompson fought "clean" campaigns.
Thompson served six terms in the national Parliament in Ottawa. As minister of Veterans Affairs in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, he insisted that Canada could stop liquefied natural gas tankers from entering Passamaquoddy Bay.
Anderson‑Mason said her win in Fundy‑The Isles‑Saint John West, where Doucet served as MLA since 2003, did not surprise her. "I think people are tired of politicians making promises that they can't keep. They just want good, honest representation," Anderson‑Mason said in an interview from her headquarters late on election night. Doucet was not immediately available.
Nobody could say for certain on election night or the next morning whether these two new MLAs will sit on the government or opposition side of the legislative assembly in Fredericton.
Voters elected 22 Progressive Conservatives -- up one from the 2014 election; 21 Liberals -- down six from 2014; three Greens -- up two from 2014; and three People's Alliance candidates for the first time ever.
No party won a majority of the 49 seats so, under Canada's parliamentary system, either Liberal Premier Brian Gallant or Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs needs support from MLAs from other parties to form a minority government. New Brunswick has not had a minority government since the 1920s, but the voters elected six third-party candidates this time, denying a majority to either the Liberals or Progressive Conservatives.
Thompson served in a minority federal government in Ottawa under Harper. On election night he described Higgs, his leader, as "a very pragmatic kind of a politician" able to work with members of other parties if "they're serious about moving New Brunswick ahead."
Thompson confirmed in an interview on September 25 that he turned down an offer that morning from a member of Gallant's staff to serve as speaker of the legislative assembly. A governing party with a comfortable majority normally nominates one of its own as speaker to preside over proceedings in the House. However, the speaker only votes to break a tie, which would place the Liberals, with only 21 seats, in constant peril of losing a vote of confidence even with support of all three People's Alliance or Green MLAs. With only 21 seats the Liberals can ill‑afford losing a voting member to the speaker's chair, since it takes 25 to pass bills and survive votes of confidence. The Progressive Conservatives are hardly better off with only 22 seats.
So both Liberals and Progressive Conservatives will put feelers out for members from other parties willing to serve as speaker. Thompson said the call came at about 10 a.m. "I politely declined and said I was completely not interested and end of discussion, but I did get the call," he said.
Gallant has the choice of resigning or facing a vote of confidence in the legislative assembly. If Gallant and the Liberals lose a vote in the house, Lieutenant Governor Jocelyne Roy Vienneau would likely ask Higgs to form a government, forcing him to seek support from other parties.
It is inherently unstable, and New Brunswick voters might well return to the polls within two years. The province must have a general election every five years, but normally holds one after four years.
Thompson acknowledged on election night that voters expect him to defend community interests whether he serves in government or opposition. His party leader lives in Quispamsis, a suburb of Saint John east of the city, and campaigned on fiscal responsibility, but Thompson predicted that the Charlotte County Hospital in St. Stephen, for example, would fare well under a Higgs government.
"Don't discount Greg Thompson. I think I'm a fairly convincing person, but I think Blaine also understands that we can't shut down rural New Brunswick," he says.