Today's newsletter: Small business help, free tuition and more female candidates

Good evening,

And we're back. After a three-day weekend, your weekday election newsletter has returned, refreshed and ready for the final three weeks of the New Brunswick election campaign. Before we get to Tuesday's news, I want to draw your attention to some weekend stories you may have missed while at the beach.

18 in 2018: How teens feel about their first provincial election is a fascinating collection of profiles on an eclectic group of young New Brunswickers primed to jump into the democratic process.

Next, the CBC's Robert Jones examined Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs's failure to meet his own standards for transparent costing of election promises. That was published on Saturday, two days before Higgs became more open about real costs.

Now, on with Day 13 of the campaign.

Top headlines

• Gallant Liberals pitch expanded university tuition programs
  • Brian Gallant promised a re-elected Liberal government would expand the free university tuition program by raising the maximum family income to qualify.

• 6 excuses people use for not voting — and why they're no good
  • The CBC's Julia Wright examines apathy among youth voters after less than half of potential voters aged 18 to 24 went to a polling booth in the 2014 election.

• Election Day 13: Greens roll out economy plan, with focus on local
  • Get the latest on the leaders' movements and announcements from the campaign trail, including Green Party Leader David Coon's pledge to create a small business loan program.

The talking point

The number of female candidates running in the 2018 provincial election has increased from 2014, according to Elections New Brunswick, which released the final candidate lists for all 49 ridings late Tuesday afternoon.

Of the 241 candidates, 38.6 per cent (93 total) are women. That's up from 32.2 per cent (71 total) of the 220-candidate field in the previous election.

Two parties reached gender parity among their candidates. The NDP, which has a full slate of candidates, has 25 women running, while the Green Party has 23 women running in 47 ridings.

"I pledged to have 50% women candidates for this election," said NDP Leader Jennifer McKenzie in a statement Tuesday," and I am very proud today to say that the NDP is the first party to present 51% of women."

The Liberals posted the next largest share of female candidates at 39 per cent (19 of 49), followed by the People's Alliance at 30 per cent (nine of 30) and the Progressive Conservatives with 29 per cent (14 of 49).

There are two ridings — Moncton South and Moncton Southwest — that will have only women on the ballot. There are five ridings with only men on the ballot: Shippagan-Lamèque-Miscou, Shediac Bay-Dieppe, Restigouche-Chaleur, Quispamsis and Kent South.

The KISS NB party is running nine candidates, three of them women. The party, which stands for "Keep it simple, solutions," found two more candidates since leader Gerald Bourque spoke with CBC News last week.

The KISS candidates are scattered across the province, but the majority are in the capital and Carleton County regions.

The party, which wants to rein in the province's rising debt, is hoping to reach disenfranchised voters tired of the status quo and ready for a "common sense" approach — a grassroots movement not unlike the rise of the People's Alliance.

The People's Alliance, which is polling at unprecedented levels (albeit 6.6 per cent), showed its growth with a record number of candidates. The 30 individuals running this year tops the 18 candidates in 2014 and 14 in 2010, the party's first election.

The Green Party fell two candidates short of a full slate, with openings in Shippagan-Lamèque-Miscou and Dieppe.

There are eight independent candidates running in the election, most notably former Liberal MLA and Speaker Chris Collins.

The pulse

Since single polls can provide varying methodology, CBC News has launched a New Brunswick Votes 2018 Poll Tracker. The interactive feature, maintained by CBC poll analyst Éric Grenier, aggregates all publicly available polling data to follow the trends of the election.

Riding profile: Saint John Harbour

The urban core of Saint John is shaping up to be one of the more interesting — and pivotal — ridings in the provincial election. Saint John Harbour captures the city's uptown, south end, lower west side and port in a mix of industrial, commercial and dense residential areas crammed into the tiny riding.

A new MLA will represent the riding after Liberal MLA Ed Doherty decided against reoffering, and a familiar face in city councillor Gerry Lowe aims to keep the riding red.

It won't be easy, however, as the opposition parties view it as a potential flip this time around. The past two elections saw Progressive Conservative Carl Killen defeat Doherty — and then vice versa — by fewer than 80 votes.

The Green Party and NDP received above-provincial-average vote shares in the riding last election. Green candidate Wayne Dryer took 14 per cent of the vote in 2014 and 28 per cent in 2010 under the NDP banner.

Saint John Harbour is one of the few concentrated spots of NDP support in the province, and party leader Jennifer McKenzie is hoping to tap into the base that elected former NDP leader Elizabeth Weir four times.

Margot Brideau is running for the People's Alliance.

The CBC's Julia Wright spent some time in the riding to get a better sense of the issues and the candidates.

Where the leaders were

Austin: Canvassing in Fredericton-Grand Lake.

David Coon: Announcement in Saint John; Fredericton-area candidates town hall.

Brian Gallant: Announcement in Saint John; stops in Moncton and Fredericton.

Blaine Higgs: Debate preparation.

Jennifer McKenzie: Announcement in Saint John, canvassing in Saint John Harbour.

More coverage

New Brunswick Poll Tracker | Get the latest projections here

Vote Compass | See how your views compare with the parties' platforms

Help CBC track political ads on Facebook | Learn how here