FREDERICTON -- New Brunswickers could find out any time after this weekend if they'll be going to the polls during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Premier Blaine Higgs says he'll take the weekend to decide whether to call an election.
The Opposition Liberals rejected Higgs' proposed deal to keep the Tories in power through the pandemic.
Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers said yesterday that Higgs wielded the threat of a snap election in a bid to have his minority government remain in power until 2022.
Vickers said "this was a negotiation with a gun to our head and completely unacceptable for myself and our party."
The Liberals left the talks, setting the stage for a possible provincial vote, which would be the first in the country since the beginning of the pandemic.
Higgs expressed disappointment with the Liberal decision.
The Progressive Conservatives and Liberals each have 20 seats in the legislature, while the Greens and the People's Alliance each have three.
There are two vacant seats and one Independent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2020.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Laura Brown
