With less than a week until New Brunswickers head to the polls, it’s becoming clear which districts are expected to come down to the wire.
Here are 16 districts you should keep an eye on come Sept. 24.
Leader ridings:
- Shediac Bay-Dieppe is held by Liberal Leader Brian Gallant, who won his seat in the newly-created district with 64.6 per cent of the vote.
- Expect a win for the Liberals.
- Quispamsis, which was relatively unchanged during the 2013 redistricting process, is held by Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs.
- Expect a win for the PCs.
- NDP Leader Jennifer McKenzie is running for the first time in the riding of Saint John Harbour
- Liberal incumbent Ed Doherty held the seat from 2005 to 2010, and won again in 2014. He is not reoffering this year.
- The riding was held by NDP Leader Elizabeth Weir from 1991 to 2005. She was the last NDP MLA elected and was the only NDP MLA in the legislature that entire time.
- Two leaders are offering in Fredericton-Grand Lake: People’s Alliance Leader Kris Austin and KISS Leader Gerald Bourque.
- Incumbent PC MLA Pam Lynch beat Austin by only 26 votes in 2014.
- Watch for Austin to potentially win the People’s Alliance’s first seat.
- Green Party Leader David Coon won Fredericton South in 2014 — a historic win for the New Brunswick Greens.
- This time around, Coon will face a full slate of candidates, which include Susan Holt (Liberals), Scott Smith (PC), Chris Durrant (NDP) and Bonnie Clark (People’s Alliance).
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READ MORE: New Brunswick election: Full ridings list
Potential shakeups/interesting ridings:
- Campbellton-Dalhousie is currently vacant. Liberal Don Arsenault resigned on Nov. 30 after controversy arose over his second job as a government relations manager for Canada’s Building Trades Unions.
- The Liberal candidate is former MP Guy Arsenault, and running for the PCs is Campbellton councillor Diane Cyr.
- Liberal incumbent Hédard Albert, who has held the seat in Caraquet since 2003, is not reoffering.
- Caraquet has been a Liberal riding in all but two elections since 1974.
- PC candidate Kevin Hache is the mayor of Caraquet.
- Liberal incumbent Bertrand LeBlanc is not reoffering; his former constituency assistant Emery Comeau is running in his place.
- Green candidate Kevin Arseneau is running against him. He’s a farmer, chair of a local service district advisory committee, and is on the Kent Regional Services Commission.
- Other candidates include Katie Robertson (PC), Neil Gardner (NDP) and Independent Roger Richard.
- Liberal incumbent Victor Boudreau is not reoffering; Shediac Mayor Jacques LeBlanc is running in his place.
- PC candidate Marcel Doiron is a business owner and son of former Cap Pele mayor Ovila Doiron.
- Green candidate Greta Doucet was interim party leader before Coon.
- Liberal incumbent Bernard LeBlanc is reoffering. He is a former councillor and former mayor of Memramcook. LeBlanc was elected MLA in 2006 and is deputy speaker.
- Green Party candidate Megan Mitton is reportedly doing well. She’s a Sackville town councillor.
- PC candidate Etienne Gaudet is a former military police officer and current farmer in Memramcook.
- Incumbent Chris Collins, currently Speaker of the House, is running as an independent after being booted from the Liberal caucus in April amid harassment allegations. He’s trying to hold onto his seat.
- Liberal candidate Rob McKee is a Moncton city councillor, while PC challenger Claudette Boudreau-Turner is well-known in the local business scene.
- Green candidate Jean-Marie Nadeau is an Acadian activist, and has run in provincial and federal elections.
Fundy-The Isles-Saint John West
- Liberal incumbent Rick Doucet is a cabinet minister. He has served as Government House Leader, Energy Minister and Fisheries and Agriculture Minister.
- This district should be interesting to watch, as Doucet claims his campaign vehicle’s brake lines were cut this month.
- Doucet should still be considered a favourite to win the seat, as he has won with at least 49 per cent of the vote since he was first elected in 2003.
- Liberal incumbent John B. Ames is a cabinet minister, but Saint Croix has been a traditional PC stronghold.
- PC candidate Greg Thompson is the area’s former MP.
- Ames narrowly beat Tory incumbent Curtis Malloch in 2014 with 41.7 per cent of the vote, compared to Malloch’s 39.2 per cent.
- Incumbent Liberal Stephen Horsman is a cabinet minister.
- Horsman edged out the PC candidate in 2014 by two percentage points.
- Also running in the district are Jill Green (PC), Scarlett Tays (NDP), Tamara White (Greens) and Lynn King (People’s Alliance).
- Former NDP Leader Dominic Cardy is running under the PC banner this year.
- There is no incumbent in this riding as PC MLA Brian Macdonald has decided not to re-offer.
- Taking Cardy’s spot with the NDP is Olivier Hébert, who is the first transgender candidate in the province. Cindy Miles for the Liberals, Susan Jonah for the Greens, and Jason Paull for the People’s Alliance are also challenging.
- Longtime PC MLA Madeleine Dubé is not reoffering this year.
- Dubé was the party’s only francophone MLA.
- The four candidates hoping to replace her are: PC candidate Gerald Levesque, Liberal candidate (and former Liberal MP) Jean-Claude D’Amours, NDP challenger Anne-Marie Comeau, and Green candidate Sophie Vaillancourt.
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