The president of the board of directors for the People’s Alliance, which was de-registered by former leader Kris Austin in March, says it is working through the process to re-register the party and have candidates in time for the two byelections in the province.
There are two scheduled byelections in June for Miramichi-Bay du Vin and Miramichi Bay-Neguac to replace former Progressive Conservative MLA Jake Stewart and Liberal MLA Lisa Harris.
Rudy Walters, the president of the board of directors, said it is working with Elections New Brunswick to re-register the party.
“Our board members took a vote on how to proceed and decided the best course of action would be to re-register as the People’s Alliance,” Walters said by phone on Friday. “We feel the actions of one person do not reflect that of the entire party.”
He said many board members were taken aback by Austin’s decision to leave the party, and only found out at the same time as everyone else did, although Walters said Austin did notify him and the executive director about two days before the announcement was made in the legislature.
On March 30, flanked by Michelle Conroy and Premier Blaine Higgs, Kris Austin announced he was stepping down and crossing the floor to the Progressive Conservative Party.
“After 12 years as leader and founder, I now know it’s time for me to make a change,” he told reporters at the time.
Walters said there are policy values and issues the board of directors feels need to be advocated for and that the People’s Alliance needs to continue to offer something different to New Brunswickers.
He spoke of continued advocacy for fairer corporate taxation and the ongoing issues the party has with duality.
Global News has reached out to Kris Austin and is awaiting comment.
Elections New Brunswick said in an emailed statement that “in accordance with subsection 146.1(1) of the Elections Act, a political party whose registration has been cancelled may re-apply for registration after a period of sixty days from the time the previous application was cancelled.”
Therefore any new application for registration can only be filed after May 31, 2022.
“A party re-applying for registration must follow the same rules as a new party,” the statement from Kim Poffenroth said.
Elections New Brunswick did not address whether the party would be re-registered in time to secure nominations for the by-elections in the Miramichi region.