N.B. Tories finish voting, awaiting new leader

The political fate of two men is in the hands of roughly 6,100 Progressive Conservative members now that voting has closed in the race to elect the party's next leader.

Tory MLA David Alward, a former agriculture minister, and Robert MacLeod, a former party president and business executive, are the two candidates vying for the party's top job. Conservatives are packed into a Fredericton arena as well as four satellite voting stations in different regions.

There were 4,238 ballots cast across the province and now that voting has closed, results are expected soon.

The party is using a one-member-one-vote system with the main voting station in Fredericton and satellite stations around New Brunswick. The turnout at the Fredericton voting site was 1,894 delegates, followed by Moncton with 1,135, Saint John with 496, Pacquetville with 330 and Saint Leonard with 248. There are also smaller polling stations on the Fundy Isles where 57 Tories voted on Campobello, 45 on Grand Manan and 33 on Deer Island.

Alward clearly had the biggest voter turnout in Fredericton and he is expected to dominate in the two northern sites in Pacquetville and Saint Leonard. Meanwhile, McLeod is expected to be strong in Moncton and Saint John.

The two leadership aspirants had one final opportunity to sway any undecided voters in speeches given at the University of New Brunswick on Saturday afternoon and broadcast to the other voting stations.

MacLeod used his speech to focus on his corporate roots. With the global economy sputtering toward recession, MacLeod said he would bring trust and common sense to the leader's position.

"It's a time of economic uncertainty," MacLeod said. "You can trust I will bring a steady hand."

MacLeod also tackled head on what is perceived as his biggest liability, his lack of bilingualism. Mixing portions of halting French into his speech, MacLeod committed to continuing to learn a second language, pointing out that his wife and three children are all bilingual.

MacLeod's sea of supporters, all wearing yellow shirts, came particularly alive when their candidate began outlining some of his priorities. The Sussex-area businessman hit on traditional Conservative party fare — lowering taxes, hiring more doctors and blasting the Liberal government for its controversial education decisions.

MacLeod picked up on a refrain that has energized the partisan faithful during the two-day event — that Premier Shawn Graham's government will become New Brunswick's first one-term government.

"The Progressive Conservative party of New Brunswick is a force to be reckoned with," he said. "A force that will make Shawn Graham a one-term premier."

Alward spoke second to the convention crowd and was ushered in by a flood of supporters who clanged noisemakers and showed off their bright orange shirts. Simply by looking at the mixture of yellow and orange shirts, it was evident early in the day that Alward was dominating the Fredericton hall in numbers.

The usually low-key Alward gave a high-energy speech, punctuated with longer sections of French than MacLeod could muster, that focused primarily on party-building ideas.

He spoke of his commitment to grassroots democracy and pledged to hold a policy convention by next May. The former agriculture minister spoke about his ability to build bridges between groups, such as urban and rural communities, francophones and anglophones and First Nations groups.

"All can and must contribute to our collective future," he said.

That future, Alward told the crowd, must be erected on six pillars, including fair taxation, a new energy policy, protection of the environment, education and training, and a commitment to healthy lifestyles.