In past elections the New Brunswick provincial riding of Saint John Harbour has been a battleground.
In 2018, Liberal MLA Gerry Lowe’s 10-vote win saw most of his first year in the job contested in court.
Having announced this week he won’t be seeking re-election, Lowe’s not going to hazard a guess at how the campaign will end.
“I couldn’t predict and I don’t want to predict it,” he says with a laugh.
Lowe is predicting the pandemic will impact how many residents in the riding head to the polls this time around.
“I think 1,000 votes will win this riding this time,” he says.
In announcing he wouldn’t re-offer, Lowe stated that provincial politics just hasn’t been what he expected.
“It’s turned out the way a lot of people warned me it would turn out. I thought they were wrong and I was the guy that was wrong,” says Lowe.
“I was totally wrong and it turned out worse than I thought it could be.”
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Not wasting any time, New Brunswick Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers announced the new candidate for the riding on Wednesday morning/
The Liberals have tapped Alice McKim, a teacher at Saint John High School for the role.
“This was a surprise to me, to be asked to run,” McKim told reporters.
“But it was an honour.”
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As of Wednesday afternoon, other parties have not named their candidate for Saint John Harbour.
J.P. Lewis, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick Saint John says that is one of the challenges of a quick campaign.
“Parties are going to be scrambling,” he says.
“It’s such a rush to the polls it doesn’t allow parties as much time to vet candidates.”
Lewis says, given the quick turnaround, a full slate of candidates province-wide would be a power move for a party – but rushed vetting could see problematic candidates put in place.
Lewis also says the Saint John Harbour riding will be key for any party looking to form a majority government.
“They need to pick up Saint John Harbour,” Lewis says.
Now calling himself retired, Lowe says he hopes whoever wins his old MLA seat is up for the job.
“Once you get to Fredericton it’s a whole different world,” he says.
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