Canada election: N.B. with several interesting ridings to watch as voters head to polls
Canadians are headed to the polls today, and there are several interesting contests to watch in New Brunswick.
The polls close at 8:30 p.m. AT and we will update this story as results starting coming in.
Prior to the election, New Brunswick had seven Liberal seats and three Conservative seats.
The riding of Fredericton turned Liberal in June, when Green Party MP Jenica Atwin crossed the floor and joined the Liberal Party.
Atwin had been elected in the 2019 election — defeating the Liberal incumbent — and was the first Green Party MP to ever be elected on the East Coast.
Atwin’s defection further highlighted tension within the Green Party and the leadership of Annamie Paul.
In 2019, the three-way race between Atwin, Conservative runner-up Andrea Johnson and Liberal incumbent Matt DeCourcey was only split by 2,577 votes.
Johnson is vying for the seat again this time around, while Nicole O’Byrne is throwing her hat in the ring for the Green Party, and Atwin will try to keep it a Liberal riding. Shawn Oldenburg is the NDP candidate, while Brandon Kirby, June Patterson and Jen Smith are all on the ballot as well.
The riding of Miramichi-Grand Lake features two former New Brunswick cabinet ministers facing off: Liberal Lisa Harris and the Conservatives’ Jake Stewart. Bruce Potter is running for the NDP, Patty Deitch is the Green candidate and Ron Nowlan is the PPC candidate.
As well, Saint John-Rothesay has “been a bit of a bellwether riding,” UNB political science professor J.P. Lewis told Global News back in August, just prior to the election call.
The federal Tories are putting a well-known face on the ballot as former Saint John Mayor Mel Norton seeks a seat in Ottawa. Incumbent Wayne Long is the Liberal candidate, Don Paulin is running for the NDP, Ann McAllister is running for the Green Party and Nicholas Pereira is the PPC candidate.
The federal leaders have made stops in key ridings in New Brunswick — but it hasn’t always been friendly.
On Aug. 27, People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier got into a heated exchange with provincial Education Minister Dominic Cardy.
The tense interaction between Bernier and his supporters was over COVID-19 policies around masking and vaccination for children.
“They are not the states children,” shouted PPC candidate, Pereira. “That is absolutely against everything …You are a piece of s***.”
Cardy later said his constituency office was vandalized, and his office received hate mail and death threats.
— with files from Callum Smith, Nathalie Sturgeon, Travis Fortnum
by Global News
