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.
“I just think it sounds like [Higgs is] moving towards the Trump approach to politics,” says Higham. “That’s what I don’t like.”
Higham says one of the issues he sees in the upcoming Tantramar campaign is the slow response from provincial departments in terms of public infrastructure projects in the region.
“Just as I’ve applauded Megan [Mitton], I also hear from people that we’re not getting the types of things that we should get for somebody who sits in government,” says Higham, referring to the as-yet-unrepaired overpass at exit 504, repair times for roads, and the continued drop in priority for replacement of Marshview Middle School. “I think that’s what a member of the government can do better than a member of opposition,” says Higham.
Higham served as mayor of Sackville from 2016 to October 2020. In 2006, he ran as the Liberal candidate for Tantramar, losing to PC Mike Oldscamp.
Current MLA Megan Mitton was elected in Memramcook-Tantramar in 2018, and has said she will re-offer in the new, smaller riding of Tantramar. The PC party has yet to nominate a candidate, but has scheduled a founding meeting for a new Tantramar Progressive Conservative Association on August 14 at the Sackville Legion.
