Saint John Harbour MLA Gerry Lowe considers return to municipal politics

Saint John Harbour Liberal MLA Gerry Lowe says he's considering a return to municipal politics.

After sitting in opposition for 17 months, Lowe said he misses the municipal system.

"You can get so much more done as a councillor than you can as an MLA if you're in the opposition," he told CBC News.

"It's not my piece of cake, put it that way there."

Lowe's comments come less than a week before the Progressive Conservative minority government is scheduled to table the 2020-21 budget.

Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers has vowed to introduce a non-confidence motion and defeat the Higgs government over controversial, now-halted health-care reforms, which included the nighttime closure of six small-hospital emergency departments.

Lowe has previously said he may not vote against the budget if it includes a long-awaited new school for his riding in  Saint John's south central peninsula and/or property tax reform for heavy industry.

But if he does vote against the budget, it would increase the likelihood of the government being toppled in the budget vote March 20, forcing a provincial election.

The legislature would then be dissolved and Lowe would have time to file his municipal candidacy ahead of the Elections New Brunswick deadline, which is 31 days before the May 11 municipal election.

Budget vote 'prime concern'

Lowe said Tuesday he still hasn't decided which way he will vote. That's his "prime concern" right now, he said.

To help him decide, he's following media reports, reading online comments, listening to constituents and talking to cab drivers to try to get a sense of "what the ordinary people think," he said.

Lowe expects to make a decision about his political future during that same period.

I think about it. And I dream about it. And I talk about it. And you know, eventually I'll make a decision.- Gerry Lowe, Saint John Harbour MLA

Asked how he will make up his mind, he replied, "I really don't know.

"I think about it. And I dream about it. And I talk about it. And you know, eventually I'll make a decision."

Lowe, who only six months ago won a lengthy and expensive legal challenge of his 10-vote victory over PC candidate Barry Ogden, said he didn't get into provincial politics for the money or the pension. 

"I just ran because I thought I could do better for the city and I'm finding that, you know, that the co-operation that [Premier Blaine] Higgs said there was going to exist, that doesn't exist," he said.

"It's a one-way train that, you know, if you're in the minority, you have very little to say."

No interest in being mayor

As a city councillor for five years, Lowe said he used to be able to deal directly with city staff on behalf of citizens. "You'd win some, you'd lose some, but at least you could actually touch it."

Now, even though he's representing many of the same people in his provincial riding that his Ward 3 riding covered in the south end, Waterloo Village area, lower west side and part of the north end, everything has to go through Fredericton.

"It's so much harder to get it done."

Lowe, who is from Saint John and lived in the city his whole life, said if he does decide to run for council again, it would be as a councillor, where he can "get into the weeds of working with people."

He has "no interest whatsoever" in the mayor's seat, he said.

Mayor Don Darling announced last month he will seek a second term in the upcoming municipal election.