Im playing the sidelines: Unhappy N. B. Tories sit out this election – New Brunswick [Video]

Jason Sully would normally spend the first weekend of a provincial election period immersed in campaign logistics — knocking on doors, organizing volunteers and all the other behind-the-scenes work involved in getting candidates elected.

In past years he would have been tackling these tasks on behalf of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative party, which he has supported since 1998 and is seeking a third consecutive mandate to govern the province.

But Sully, who once worked for a former minister in party leader Blaine Higgs’s cabinet, said this year will be different.

“I feel that Blaine Higgs is not the right leader for the Progressive Conservative party,” said Sully, adding he would not be volunteering for the party or putting up a candidate sign in his lawn in his riding of Quispamsis, which Higgs currently represents.

The Tory leader has faced critiques about his leadership style during his six years at the party helm and has been described as a micromanager.