Blaine Higgs loses seat, 'extremely unlikely' to remain as leader
PC leader unseated by Liberal Aaron Kennedy in home riding
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs lost his own seat in the election Monday and said it's unlikely he will remain as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.
Elections N.B. results show the party will hold 16 seats in the legislature, compared to 31 for the Liberals.
Higgs told CBC in an interview after conceding to premier-designate Susan Holt that it was "extremely unlikely" that he would stay on as party leader.
"I knew it was going to be a tight race," Higgs said, describing the overall outcome as the worst-case scenario for the party.
"It's heartbreaking in many ways," Higgs said following a concession speech at St. Louis Bar & Grill in his Quispamsis riding, where about 50 people had gathered to watch the results.
Higgs lost his riding outside Saint John to Liberal candidate Aaron Kennedy by 193 votes.
Across the province, several cabinet ministers also lost to their Liberal opponents, including Jill Green in Fredericton North, Réjean Savoie in Miramichi Bay-Neguac, and Greg Turner in Moncton South.
Ted Flemming, who has held various cabinet roles and was first elected in 2012, lost in Rothesay to Liberal Alyson Townsend.
In Sussex-Three Rivers, PC and cabinet minister Tammy Scott-Wallace was re-elected, beating Bruce Northrup by 507 votes. Northrup ran for the Liberals after previously representing the region as a PC.
In Hampton-Fundy-St. Martins, PC Faytene Grasseschi lost by 224 votes to Liberal John Herron.
Former People's Alliance MLAs Kris Austin and Michelle Conroy, who left the party to sit as PCs in 2022, were both re-elected to the legislature under the Tory banner.
Others re-elected for the PCs include Mike Dawson in Miramichi West, Glen Savoie in Saint John East, Sherry Wilson in Albert-Riverview, Bill Oliver in Kings Centre, Kathy Bockus in Saint Croix, Mary Wilson in Oromocto-Sunbury, Ryan Cullins in Fredericton-York, Richard Ames in Carleton-York, and Bill Hogan in Woodstock-Hartland.
Jeff Carr, a former PC MLA who resigned from the government last year, called the results the party's worst loss in 30 years.
"This was a referendum on Blaine," Carr said during a CBC election show panel, saying the party needs to reflect on its direction. He also called on Higgs to apologize to Holt.
The 70-year-old Higgs, a former Irving Oil executive, has led the party since 2016 and has been premier since 2018. He was first elected to represent Quispamsis in 2010, serving four years as finance minister under premier David Alward.
Higgs was premier in a minority government until 2020, when the party won 27 seats compared to 17 for the Liberals, three for the Greens and two for the People's Alliance.
Higgs's publicly flirted with stepping aside as leader before another election but ultimately opted to stay after an internal party revolt.
Several ministers, including Carr, and longtime MLAs announced they'd resign or wouldn't run again, citing his leadership and his government's changes to Policy 713, which deals with gender identity in the education system.
Higgs in an interview described it as an internal issue "mainly around parents and kids," but said 85 per cent of caucus backed his position.
"It was unfortunate that it turned into a big issue within the party," Higgs said.
The party campaigned on those changes while offering few other promises for another term.
The most significant promise was to cut the harmonized sales tax (HST) over two years to 13 per cent. It's a promise estimated to cost the province $1.6 billion in lost revenue.
The party released a two-page platform over the Thanksgiving weekend.
The party promised to expand the scope of practice for nurses, paramedics and pharmacists, balance the budget, force those with an addiction into treatment if they pose a danger to themselves or others, and litigate against title claims by First Nations.
The party fielded a full slate of 49 candidates. Higgs emphasized a focus on the north, nominating bilingual mayors nominated in Campbellton and Bathurst regions previously held by Liberals. But both of those candidates lost to Liberals.
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