N.B. votes 2024: Higgs loses own riding as PCs take devastating election blow

New Brunswick Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs will no longer be the representative for Quispamsis.
Higgs, who was seeking a third government as premier, has lost his riding to Liberal Aaron Kennedy — a trend mirroring the ultimate result: a Liberal majority with Susan Holt becoming the province’s first female premier, preliminary results from Monday’s election show.
“It’s certainly not the night we hoped for but nevertheless, it is what it is,” Higgs told supporters at his election gathering.
Higgs said his party will begin discussing leadership transition in the coming days.
“After those discussions are complete, I will make a formal announcement,” he added.
Higgs, 70, has been leader of the PCs since 2016, and premier of New Brunswick since 2018. He was first elected to the legislature in 2010.
Global News projected a Liberal majority government Monday night after a 33-day campaign that was considered a tight race between Holt and Higgs.
Higgs was hoping to become the first New Brunswick premier to win three consecutive elections since Liberal Frank McKenna won his third straight majority in 1995. But his path to that milestone wasn’t going to be easy.
Since forming government in 2018, 14 PC caucus members have stepped down after clashing with Higgs, some of them citing what they described as an authoritarian leadership style and a focus on conservative policies that represented a hard shift to the right.
A caucus revolt erupted last year after Higgs announced changes to the gender identity policy, known as Policy 713, in schools. When several PC lawmakers voted for an external review of the change, Higgs dropped dissenters from cabinet. A bid by some party members to trigger a leadership review went nowhere.
The election race was largely focused on health care and affordability, but was notable for two leaders’ remarkably dissimilar campaign styles.
Higgs focused on the high cost of living, promising to lower the provincial harmonized sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent — a pledge that will cost the province about $450 million annually.
Holt spent much of the campaign rolling out proposed fixes for a health-care system racked by a doctor shortage, overcrowded emergency rooms and long wait-times.
Higgs said Holt has earned the “trust of the people.”
“I wished her, and I wish her here, every success as she takes on the challenges that lie ahead,” he said
“I’m proud of the campaign we ran, one that was focused on making New Brunswick a better place for all of us.”
At dissolution more than a month ago, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Greens had three, there was one Independent and there were four vacancies.
As of 10:30 p.m. Atlantic time Monday, the Liberals hold 31 seats, the Conservatives 16 and the Greens two. Voter turnout was about 66 per cent.
— with files from The Canadian Press