On Monday the province of New Brunswick will go to the polls to elect a new government. The Liberal Party under Shawn Graham has crashed the proud province into fiscal disarray after replacing two term Tory incumbent Bernard Lord. This election may provide a bellweather indicator for general voter sentiment in the Atlantic provinces, where the Conservatives have been polling very strong in the past year. Bernard Lord has kept a low profile since his defeat in the last election, a man who had been considered a rising star in the Conservative Party.
In the 2008 federal election, the Tories carried NB with 39% of the popular vote to the Liberals 32% and the NDP 22%.
I am off to vote in a few minutes. I will not be voting Liberal. It is to be hoped that Shawn Graham will be given a strong message of his performance by new brunswickers when they show him the door....and open it up for David Alward, Conservative. This is where my vote will go. Thanks for writing this up iceman.
ReplyDelete"This election may provide a bellweather indicator for general voter sentiment in the Atlantic provinces"
ReplyDeleteNo, this isn't true for two reasons:
1. This election is primarily a referendum on Shawn Graham and his ill-fated attempt to sell NB Power to Hydro-Quebec. The deal enraged New Brunswickers and Graham backed out of the deal despite his majority government (that is, he could easily have forced it through the legislature if he'd chosen to).
2. NB tends to be more conservative than its Atlantic cousins. Nova Scotia elected an NDP government last year, remember.
From the returns coming in, it seems clear New Brunswick has chosen to smite Shawn Graham and send the Liberals to the woodshed.