Charlotte County bucked the trend in the New Brunswick provincial general election on October 21. Voters in both Saint Croix and Fundy The Isles Saint John Lorneville stuck with the Progressive Conservatives even as the party lost seats across the province to the Liberals under leader Susan Holt, who will become New Brunswick's first woman premier. Blaine Higgs, Progressive Conservative premier since 2018, lost his own Quispamsis seat in the Saint John region.
      Across the province, the Liberals won 31 seats, a commanding majority in the 49 seat Legislative Assembly and 14 more than the 17 seats the party won in the 2020 election. The PCs dropped to 16 seats from 27 in the last election. The Green Party kept two seats, one fewer than in 2020. The People's Alliance, which won two seats in 2020, was frozen out this time.
      In Saint Croix, which includes St. Stephen, St. Andrews and Campobello Island, PC candidate Kathy Bockus, a former journalist, won a second term in Fredericton with 3,271 votes, a sizeable lead over 2,063 votes for Liberal contender Troy Lyons. Green Party candidate Mark Groleau won 1,442 votes, independent candidate Kris Booth 170 votes, People's Alliance candidate Alex Tessman 96, New Democratic Party candidate Bola Ademolu 90 and Libertarian Party candidate Krysten Mitchell 82 votes.
      A total of 7,255 people cast their ballots in Saint Croix, 62.3% of the 11,594 eligible to vote, lower than the 66% turnout in 2020. Bockus got about 300 votes fewer than she did in 2020 but still close to 1,200 over her nearest rival. However, the 4,369 eligible voters who did not cast their ballots still outnumber the votes for Bockus, the winner, by more than 1,000.
      In Fundy The Isles Saint John Lorneville, which includes Eastern Charlotte, Deer Island and Grand Manan as well as the western reaches of the city of Saint John, school teacher Ian Lee held the riding for the PCs with 3,971 votes, more than the five other candidates combined. Liberal contender Patty Borthwick got 2,052 votes, Green candidate Rhonda Connell 346, New Democratic Party candidate Chris Wanamaker 158, Consensus New Brunswick hopeful Sharon Green 113, and Libertarian Keith Tays 88.
      Lee did not get as many as the 4,740 votes that Andrea Anderson-Mason did in 2020, but it was an impressive win nonetheless. A total of 6,742 people cast their ballots in Fundy The Isles Saint John West, 65.3% of the 10,330 registered to vote, up a bit from 63% in 2020. The 3,588 people eligible to vote who did not cast their ballots do not outnumber the total for the winning candidate - but they do add up to more than the votes for the five other candidates combined.
      Provincewide, 376,026 people cast their ballots, 66% of the 568,994 eligible voters, very close to the turnout in 2020. Conventional wisdom holds that more people vote when change is in the air. The total number of people voting did not increase despite a growing population in New Brunswick, possibly indicating that disgruntled PCs stayed home on election day, contributing to the outcome.
      A group of six government caucus members including Anderson-Mason revolted against Higgs last year over changes to provincial policy to now require schools to notify parents when their children asked to change names and pronouns used to address them. Anderson-Mason, who once served as provincial attorney general under Higgs, announced in May that she would not run again, joining other government back bench MLAs and cabinet ministers who bowed out this time. Bockus, Higgs' minister responsible for seniors, stated at the all candidates meeting before the election that she supports the changes in policy regarding pronouns.
      The PCs ran on their record after six years in office, citing growing population and the province's financials state. Higgs pledged to cut the harmonized sales tax (HST) by two percentage points to 13% if reelected. Holt promised better healthcare, meaning she will need the revenue Higgs was willing to forgo by cutting the HST. Province wide the voters made their choice.
      According to the as yet unofficial results posted online by Elections New Brunswick, Liberal candidates garnered about 181,000 votes, 48% of the total ballots cast. This result allowed Liberal candidates to win 31 seats in the Legislative Assembly, 63% of the 49 total, due to the vagaries of Canada's "first past the post" electoral system.
      About 131,000 voters, 35% of the total, cast their ballots for PC candidates. The party won 16 seats, just shy of 33% of the total, not far off their share of the popular vote. Winning the second largest number of seats in the House allows them to form the official opposition. Green Party candidates got more than 51,000 votes, nearly 14% of the total, but they won only two seats, about 5% of the total. New Democratic Party got almost 5,000 votes, 1.3% of the total, but no seats. Candidates for other smaller parties got even fewer votes and no seats in Fredericton.
      The three large New Brunswick population centers of Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton plus suburbs surrounding them, including Quispamsis where Higgs lost his own seat, voted for change in this election, possibly suggesting an urban-rural divide in the province.
      Holt now has to appoint a cabinet as she and her Liberal supporters prepare to govern. Higgs indicated on election night that he expected to resign as PC leader, a step towards rebuilding as the reduced party caucus prepares for its role on the opposition side of the House.
      Charlotte County, touted in years past as the "bellwether" for always electing candidates to the government side of the House, now finds itself with two opposition members.
      In a brief interview broadcast on election night, Bockus said she would concentrate on issues she learned about during the election campaign. "I've got a lot of work left to do. I'm very pleased. I'm very humbled by the trust that the people have put in me, and I will work very hard for them," she said.