As New Brunswick’s fall election looms, both the Liberal and Green parties are pitching themselves to progressive voters as the strategic choice to replace Tory premier Blaine Higgs.
For some voters, that can mean a difficult choice. Gail Costello, who ran for the Greens in 2020 and says she has voted for Liberal and NDP candidates in the past, says strategic voting is the norm.
“Sometimes you have to plug your nose and vote strategically,” she said.
“It might not be who you voted for last time, it might not be who you would vote for in a perfect situation.”
This election she’s supporting the Liberals, attracted in part by the vision of leader Susan Holt, but also driven by a desire to protect LGBTQ2 rights, which she sees as being eroded by Higgs.
“If there’s a certain government that is not willing to protect everybody and another government that is willing to protect everybody, to me the choice is clear,” she said.
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The battle for left-of-centre votes is most evident in the Fredericton region, where Green Leader David Coon has held a seat since 2014 and where the party came second to the Tories in four other ridings in 2020. In fact, the party’s 12 second place finishes in the previous election is a big part of its pitch this year.
“When you look at every election having that increasing vote, I think there is a huge strategy in voting Green again,” said the Green candidate in Fredericton North, Anthea Plummer.
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“I think it’s also important to vote for what you actually want, what you believe in and not what you fear.”
But Plummer will be going up against former Green candidate Luke Randall, who won over 30 per cent of the vote for the party in 2020. Randall is running for the Liberals now, saying he planned on sitting this election out, but Holt’s leadership of the Liberal party won him over.
He says he believes in the values of the Green party, but says he believes the Liberals are in a better spot to actually effect change.
“I only see one leader who is talking about the issues that matter to New Brunswickers and the solutions and I only see one leader who is quickly able to enact those changes,” he said.
“So my pitch to voters is that if you want change, I’m the person that can take that desire for change and turn it into action.”
When asked about strategic voting and vote splitting, Green leader David Coon said it’s not something he worries about.
He rejects comparisons to the Liberals, who he says have a habit of campaigning to the left and governing to the right. If progressive voters want to see key priorities addressed, Coon urges them to support the Greens, rather than the Liberals and the Tories who have traditionally formed government and allowed public services to crumble.
“People look at where they’re at, they look at the crises that they’re facing and this has been brought about by both Liberal and Conservative governments over the last number of years, taking turns to ignore the services that are absolutely essential to the health and wellness of New Brunswickers,” he said.
The fall vote is set for Oct. 21 and the writ period will kick off on Sept. 19.
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