Christian conservative activist recruiting voters to sway PC nominations
Faytene Grasseschi wants “pro-parental rights” candidates chosen for potential election
A high-profile Christian conservative broadcaster and activist is recruiting followers to join the Progressive Conservative party of New Brunswick so they can choose like-minded candidates for a potential provincial election.
Faytene Grasseschi is urging people on her mailing list to join the party to ensure the PCs nominate candidates who she calls "pro-parental rights."
In a YouTube video, Grasseschi, a Quispamsis resident, points out that local riding nomination contests can be decided by just a handful of votes.
"We want to make sure that there are strong parental rights candidates, candidates that are going to represent families, the faith community and all the issues that we care about," she said.
"We're pointing you to the PCNB party because that's the party that will most likely have the parental rights candidates landing here in the next couple of weeks."
The sign-up form is on the website of her activist organization 4 My Canada.
"Encouraging people to engage in democracy is nothing new; 4 My Canada has been doing it for decades, as it is one of the stated purposes of the non-profit," she said in an email to CBC News, in which she turned down an interview request.
Grasseschi launched the Don't Delete Parents campaign earlier this year on the 4 My Canada website to support Higgs's changes to Policy 713.
Changes to the policy requires parents to consent if children under 16 want to change names or pronouns to reflect their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Before the changes, school staff had to develop plans to informally accommodate the student's wishes in the classroom if the student didn't want their parents notified.
The change was the catalyst for a revolt within the PC party, and its caucus of MLAs, over Higgs's leadership and decision-making style.
The premier says he has been "very close" to calling an election this fall to put an end to the instability in his caucus.
Grasseschi, well-known in Christian conservative circles for her Faytene TV current affairs show, went online in July urging New Brunswickers to sign up for the party to support Higgs if there were an internal leadership review vote.
That vote never happened, but she is using that mailing list now to help people buy PC memberships to vote in local riding nomination contests that would unfold quickly, if Higgs calls an election.
Shawn Rouse, the parent of a transgender student who opposed Higgs's Policy 713 changes, says Grasseschi has the right to influence the political process but said it "can be very dangerous to weaponize politics."
He said the "pro-parental rights" label is misleading.
"We know what that means is it takes away the ability for the child under 16 in New Brunswick schools to be able to choose when they come out to their parents and at school."
Rouse said since Grasseschi doesn't have a trans child, "I'm not sure why she's so passionate about this issue. It makes me ask what she has to gain, and it certainly seems like she's looking to further her political career with it."
Until yesterday, the sign-up page on Grasseschi's 4 My Canada website included data with the name of the Hampton-Fundy-St. Martins provincial riding.
That constituency is next to the Quispamsis riding, where she lives and where Higgs plans to run again.
Grasseschi refused in two email exchanges with CBC News to say whether she plans to run.
She said the mention of the Hampton riding name in the web page data was a mistake.
"The title on the form is incorrect," she wrote in the email. "As the graphic clearly says, the form is not riding-specific, but for the entire province. I'll see if one of the team can look into that and update it as I can see how that would be confusing."
The label was changed as of Tuesday morning.
The PC riding association president in Hampton-Fundy-St. Martins, Jeremy Salgado, said he hasn't heard whether current MLA Gary Crossman will run again.
Salgado said there have been rumours about Grasseschi running but nothing official.
Former adherents of a religious movement called the New Apostolic Reformation told CBC News this summer that many of Grasseschi's past statements as an activist align with tenets of the NAR, which seeks to put people with Christian values in charge of political institutions.
She responded at the time that her faith is about service and is "never about control," and that her views had changed over the years.
"As we go, we mature and deepen in understanding," she said.
Grasseschi sought the federal Conservative nomination for Saint John-Rothesay in the 2021 election, and in a July interview with CBC News said she had thought "vaguely" about running provincially someday.
She also said at the time the mailing list she was gathering to support Higgs could be put to use in a future election.
"There's power in engagement. The nation and our communities are shaped by those who show up in the process. So I'm going to continue to create levers to onramp people into the democratic process," she said in July.
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