Team Holt rolls to massive victory in New Brunswick
The Tory blue remained strong in York, Carleton and Victoria counties, but Team Holt’s Liberal red wave rolled over New Brunswick’s big cities and the Liberal strongholds in the Northern N.B. for a massive Liberal victory in the Oct. 21 provincial election.
The Liberals, under Premier-designate Susan Holt, captured 31 unofficial seats, while outgoing Premier Blaine Higgs’s PCs managed only 16, with David Coon’s Green Party earning two seats.
PC incumbents and cabinet ministers in the Higgs cabinet, Richard Ames in Carleton-York, Bill Hogan in Woodstock-Hartland and Margaret Johnson in Carleton-Victoria, all rolled to definite victories in their ridings. The situation was dramatically different throughout the rest of the province.
While happy with the strong showing of Ames, Johnson, and himself, Hogan’s positive feelings are tempered by the PC results provincially.
“The provincial results are definitely disappointing, so we’ll have to look and see what happened in the province,” said Hogan.
While he believes his government laid the groundwork for a positive future, Hogan, who served as the Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister in the Higgs government, believes voters react to immediate challenges at election time.
He said it became clear people were unhappy post-pandemic with affordability and healthcare, but those issues affected all governments nationwide.
“It’s not unique to New Brunswick,” Hogan said. “Every incumbent government is paying a price.”
Hogan acknowledged that his government role would change, but his role as Woodstock-Hartland MLA would remain the same.
“I’m extremely honoured and humbled to be chosen by the people of Woodstock-Hartland to represent them again,” he said. “That still is the most important thing and was the most important thing.” \
He said every MLA is elected to represent the people of the province and must work together to do what’s best for the province.
During the campaign, Hogan’s Liberal opponent Marisa Pelkey and Holt announced that Woodstock would be one of the first in line for a collaborative health clinic, potentially before the end of 2025.
Hogan said he supports the idea but still doubts the Holt government can deliver on the promised collaborative clinics.
“Everybody in our community, in this riding, has wanted a medical clinic here for at least a decade, no one was not in favour of it,” he said. “I have no idea how she’s going to staff it. I’m worried about how we’re going to staff our hospital, how we’re going to provide surgical time for our surgeons.”
Like his Tory counterpart Margaret Johnson, re-elected in Carleton-Victoria, Hogan fears the Holt government will overspend to deliver its promises.
“Our biggest fear is we go backwards,” he said. “I hope that doesn’t happen.”
Johnson expressed similar concerns during an election night interview during the River Valley Sun’s live election coverage on YouTube.
“I have great trepidation about a Liberal government,” Johnson said.
She expressed worry that the Liberals would dismantle her government’s efforts to curtail spending and return the province to a solid fiscal position.
Like Hogan, Johnson said she would direct her focus from the opposition bench to the interests of her riding. She plans to be vigilant about how money is spent and fight for healthcare in rural New Brunswick.
“I’m thrilled to death to be able to represent the people of Carleton-Victoria once again,” she said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Ames, Hogan, and Johnson all garnered well over 50 per cent of the vote in their respective ridings to roll to easy victories.
In Carleton-York, Ames picked up 58.9 per cent of the vote with 4,622 votes. Liberal Chris Duffie followed with 2ith 2,136. Green Party Burt Folkins with 675, and PANB Sterling Wright with 415.
In Woodstock-Carleton, Hogan captured 52.8 per cent with 4,199 votes, followed by Liberal Marisa Pelkey with 2,549, PANB Charlie Webber with 575, Green Party Jada Roche with 276, Independent Ernest Culberson with 209 and NDP Bo Sheaves with 138.
In Carleton-Victoria, Johnson earned 62.3 per cent, with 4,798 votes, followed by Liberal Julian Moulton with 2,159, Green Party Rebecca Blaevoet with 451 and Social Justice Party’s Tasha Rossignol with 290.
Several high-profile Tory upsets, including cabinet ministers like Ted Flemming and Jill Green, fuelled the massive Liberal majority.
Perhaps the biggest shock in the historic election was Higgs’ loss in his own riding of Quispamsis.
Holt made history, becoming the first female premier in New Brunswick’s history.
During a YouTube interview with the River Valley Sun Tuesday morning, the premier-designate admitted meeting healthcare challenges won’t be easy, but her government has a long-range plan. She said collaborative community clinics are pivotal to her plan.
“The healthcare system can’t be fixed with small little changes,” Holt said.
She said the system requires transformational changes, and her government must begin immediately to change the model of how it’s delivered, paid for and what it looks like.
Holt said the good news is that everyone, including local governments, healthcare professionals, and all three political parties, is aligned regarding the need to develop collaborative clinics as a basis for healthcare delivery.
“Everybody agrees this is the model — team-based collaborative care in community, preventative, with multiple professionals who can share a group of patients, share the information and technology,” she said.
Holt said her government will aggressively pursue this model, noting it will eventually ease the burden and costs on other healthcare delivery sectors, including emergency rooms.
You can watch the River Valley Sun’s interview with Holt here.
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