Polls close in New Brunswick election and ballot counting begins [Video]

FREDERICTON — New Brunswick voters have cast their ballots after an election race that focused on health care and affordability but was notable for the stark contrast between the Liberal and Progressive Conservative campaigns.

Tory Leader Blaine Higgs, seeking his third term as premier, focused on the high cost of living, promising to lower the provincial harmonized sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent — a pledge that will cost the province about $450 million annually.

Higgs’s main rival, Liberal Leader Susan Holt, spent much of the campaign rolling out proposed fixes for a health-care system racked by a doctor shortage, overcrowded emergency rooms and long wait-times.

But what made the race unusual were the two leaders’ remarkably dissimilar campaign styles.

The 70-year-old premier, a mechanical engineer and former Irving Oil executive, led a low-key campaign, during which he didn’t have any scheduled public events on at …