N.B. parties outside the legislature seek election night breakthrough

Political parties outside of the New Brunswick legislature are seeking a breakthrough on election night, or in some cases, a comeback.

“The rebuilding season is behind us,” says New Brunswick New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Alex White. “We are now into the growth period.”

The provincial NDP hasn’t been represented in the legislature since former leader Elizabeth Weir left politics in 2015. White says about half of the party’s membership left under the leadership of Dominic Cardy, who also left the NDP in 2017, later becoming a Progressive Conservative (PC) cabinet minister.

“The unions have come back to us, the Francophone community is now supporting us again," says White. "We’ve made inroads with all of our natural allies."

The NDP is offering 22 candidates on the ballot, out of a total 49 ridings.

The party's platform, called “Give People a Break,” promises a balanced budget within four years, a minimum wage of $20 over four years, a $200 power bill rebate, and a cap on residential rent increases at no more than two per cent each year.

The party’s platform also includes a pledge to create at least 40 family practice teams, while adding 1,500 early-learning childcare spaces, 2,000 public housing units, and 250 nursing home beds.

“Our platform is progressive, and it is a fully, properly costed platform,” says White.

The Libertarian Party of New Brunswick is fielding 18 candidates for its first provincial election.

“A few candidates could do very well,” says Tays. “I don’t expect to win any seats this early on just because we’ve had so little time to get the word out.

“A lot of people were asking, ‘Is there a candidate in my riding?’ and I’d say, ‘No,’ and they would say, ‘I’ll run.’”

Tays says the party’s first campaign is focusing on the Libertarian principles of less government control and massive tax cuts, rather than a platform of promises.

“We’re here to stay for sure,” says Tays. “We’re going to keep our foot on the gas.”

The People’s Alliance of New Brunswick (PANB) is rebuilding its numbers and coffers, after it was de-registered as a party by former leader Kris Austin in 2022. Austin and former PANB MLA Michelle Conroy joined Blaine Higgs’ Progressive Conservative government.

The party was re-registered, and 2018-2020 PANB MLA Rick DeSaulniers is now leading the party through this campaign.

“I’m proud of where we’re at,” says DeSaulniers. “When (Austin and Higgs) got done doing what they did to us, we ended up with zero, zilch, nothing. And we started from there and we’ve got a good campaign going.”

The People’s Alliance is running 13 candidates across the province. DeSaulniers is running in the same Fredericton-Grand Lake riding as Austin, who's running for re-election under the PC banner.

The People Alliance's most recent campaign announcement on Sept. 25 gave support to changes made last year under Policy 713 – the Department of Education's gender identity and pronouns policy.

DeSaulnier says the party isn’t making any specific campaign promises in 2024, but is instead running on previous policy statements and a founding principle of allowing MLAs to vote freely in the legislature.

“We’re not making any promises,” says DeSaulnier. “We think that’s B.S. People can see through that, and we’re not going to go out and make a bunch of promises. People know what we are, what we stand for, and we’re going to run on that.”

There are also two other new parties on the ballot.

The Consensus Party is running three candidates and the Social Justice Party is running two candidates.

Pending a final decision, the party status for both Consensus and Social Justice will be cancelled following election day for having less than 10 candidates.

There are also four independents offering as candidates in the Oct. 21 vote. 

For more New Brunswick election news, visit our dedicated page.