On-campus polling will help ensure “everybody who can vote, can vote” in new Tantramar riding
During the last provincial election in September 2020, confusion reigned at the Sackville polling station, with Elections NB workers mistakenly turning away eligible student voters throughout the polling day. Some students told CHMA at the time that they had to try multiple times to get through the voting process without being turned away. Others left in frustration, without voting at all.
It’s a situation Garth Zwicker is confident can be avoided this October 21, as the province’s electors get another chance to weigh in on who forms the government of New Brunswick.
Zwicker is the returning officer for the riding of Tantramar, the smallest riding by population in the province since the electoral map was redrawn last spring.
CHMA caught up with Zwicker last week at the Tantramar returning office at 95 Bridge Street, to find out more about how voting will take place this time around in Tantramar.
The Tantramar returning office will officially open at 10am on Thursday September 19, the day the writ is scheduled to drop, triggering the 2024 provincial election. Electors should have voting cards by October 7.
On election day, October 21, nine different polling stations will open across the riding (in Murray Corner, Baie Verte, Cape Tormentine, Port Elgin, Sackville, Dorchester, Midgic, Westcock, and Mount Whatley) in addition to the returning office at 95 Bridge Street.… Continue
Meet the NB NDP’s Tantramar candidate, Evelyne Godfrey
Another candidate for the Tantramar seat in the New Brunswick provincial legislature has stepped forward. Evelyne Godfrey is the prospective nominee for the New Brunswick NDP.
Godfrey is a dual Canadian and UK citizen, and for the past number of years has split her time between her home in England and her home in Port Elgin, where she now lives with her husband.
Godfrey dropped by CHMA to talk about her decision to run, the future of the NDP in New Brunswick, and plans for a local policy forum to engage residents about what they’d like from their provincial government.
Godfrey is no stranger to campaigning for the NDP, and ran as the federal NDP candidate in the 2021 federal election. She says this will be a rebuilding election for the provincial NDP, who haven’t held a seat in the legislature since 2006.
“I think that our voters are out there, and we disconnected from them in the last sort of six years,” says Godfrey. “But we’ve got a fantastic team now of candidates that I’m very, very happy to be with for the NDP. They’re all full of hope and joy and pride in this place,” she says.
The riding of Tantramar has four candidates so far in the election slated for October 21. Incumbent Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton is running for the Green Party, former Sackville mayor John Higham is running for the Liberals, and Tantramar councillor Bruce Phinney recently announced he’s the prospective candidate for the PCs.… Continue
Mitton defends her record on public works, role of Greens in future governments
The newly redrawn riding of Tantramar has two officially nominated candidates so far in the provincial election expected to be called for October 21, 2024.
Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton has been officially in the running since last fall, shortly after Premier Blaine Higgs hinted at an early election call. “We thought there was going to be a snap election,” says Mitton, “and so we got organized then.”
Mitton spoke to reporters last week after a Sierra Club of Canada event in Sackville, and responded to claims by Liberal candidate John Higham that an MLA in a government seat would have better luck with infrastructure projects than an opposition MLA.
“I don’t think it should depend who your MLA is and what party they’re in,” said Mitton, “that your community gets what it needs. I think that’s basically advocating for corruption in government.”
At the same time, Mitton defended her record for drawing attention to local projects, noting the reopening of Route 106 in July, and the repair for the Main Street overpass which she says is slated for this year.
The latest item of concern is the closure of the historic Wheaton Covered Bridge on High Marsh Road, and Mitton says a government seat in the legislature wouldn’t secure its future. “There are covered bridges in [Progressive] Conservative ridings right now that are not getting the work done,” said Mitton, “so that’s not a guarantee.”… Continue
‘It’s time to turn Mr. Higgs out’: John Higham set to become Liberal candidate in Tantramar
The provincial election is just three months away, and so far, there’s been only one candidate for the new riding of Tantramar: incumbent Memramcook-Tantramar MLA and Green Party deputy leader Megan Mitton.
But that will change Monday evening, when former Sackville mayor John Higham joins the race as the New Brunswick Liberal candidate. The newly formed Tantramar Liberal Association is expected to officially endorse Higham at a nominating convention Monday at 7pm at the Tantramar Civic Centre, with party leader Susan Holt expected to attend.
CHMA sat down with Higham to find out about why he decided to run, and what he thinks the issues are for the riding of Tantramar.
Higham acknowledges it will be a tough contest against current MLA Megan Mitton. “This has nothing to do with her,” says Higham, noting that he has worked with the Green MLA in the past, and feels she is well-respected in Tantramar. “The reason I would run, and why I will run, is because it’s time to turn Mr. Higgs out,” says Higham. And he believes the best way to do that is with a Liberal majority government.
Higham says he’s not been happy with the Higgs government’s investments in health care, and has found the premier’s education policies “don’t make a lot of sense.”
When it comes to specific issues like the government’s controversial changes to Policy 713 which now requires teachers to get parental consent before using a child’s preferred name or pronoun, Higham says while as a parent he does want to know “what’s going on with my kids,” he is not a fan of “the way in which they’ve endangered people… It reeks of other reasons that they’ve done it,” says Higham.… Continue
Former Sackville mayor John Higham set to become Liberal candidate in Tantramar
On today’s show, we talk with soon-to-be-nominated Liberal candidate for Tantramar, John Higham. The former Sackville mayor says, “it’s time to turn Mr. Higgs out,” and believes a Liberal majority government is the way do to that. Higham will be officially nominated at a meeting in Sackville on Monday.
Plus in briefs, about a third of workers in Atlantic Canada make less than $20 an hour, and Tyler Murphy is due back in court today.
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