Tantramar councillor Bruce Phinney says he’s decided to run for the PC party in the upcoming provincial election.
“I feel I really do have something to offer the municipality here,” Phinney told reporters last week. “I’m open minded. I can be fair with anybody. I’m willing to discuss or talk to anybody about anything.” Phinney said he’s often thought of running federally, and so when the provincial PC party approached him, he decided to jump at the opportunity.
Phinney was recommended to the party by former local government minister Daniel Allain, who has said he won’t be running in this year’s election. After ushering in municipal amalgamations across the province including Tantramar, Allain was demoted to backbencher last June over his support for an opposition motion calling for more study of changes to Policy 713 on gender identity in schools.
After Allain’s recommendation, Phinney made the trip to Fredericton on New Brunswick Day to meet with Premier Blaine Higgs. “I enjoyed meeting with the premier,” said Phinney. “When you see someone on TV or you don’t know them, you’re not sure exactly what to think of them… But when you meet someone in person, it can be a whole different ball game. And I found we had a lot of common things.”
Phinney was the fourth candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the newly redrawn riding of Tantramar. Green Party MLA Megan Mitton, Liberal John Higham, and NDP prospective candidate Evelyn Godfrey are also running in the election that’s slated for October 21.
Phinney was at the Sackville Legion last Wednesday for the founding meeting of the Tantramar PC riding association. Regional PC volunteer Marc LeBlanc explained the sparsely attended meeting was a formality, and that a nominating convention to formally select Phinney as candidate would be held later on.
CHMA and local reporter Bruce Wark spoke with Phinney outside the Legion on Lorne Street, and started off asking about his meeting with the premier:
“It’s an honour and a privilege to turn around and actually be be asked,” said Phinney.
Phinney said he’s been talking to staunch advocates of Premier Blaine Higgs, and is convinced that the premier has ideas that will “help resolve and remedy some of the issues and problems,” facing New Brunswick. “I think I’d like to be a part of that, as a matter of fact,” said Phinney.
Phinney joked that in his two decades as a municipal councillor, “people keep electing me because they want to torture me some more,” but then admits he does actually enjoy politics. “You’ve got to have a pretty thick skin in order to turn around and do this kind of work, because a lot of the times, you’re not appreciated,” he said. “And I understand how people feel because of the fact they want solutions and cures to the problems.”
Phinney mentioned housing and health care as major issues, noting that he himself does not have a family doctor. When asked about the controversy over the government’s revisions to Policy 713, Phinney said he was still unclear about the policy and the changes made to it by the government, but did say he felt children under 16 were sometimes not mature enough to make their own decisions. “Until I know more and understand a little more,” said Phinney, “then I don’t know what to say.”
