New Brunswick may be one of Canada’s smallest provinces but it’s often “a canary in the coal mine” of Canadian politics, a harbinger of things to come.
Four years ago, Blaine Higgs became the first premier to test his handling of the pandemic by calling an early election. He was rewarded with a majority government. It was the beginning of a trend that saw incumbents re-elected provincially and federally, until Nova Scotians ended the trend in 2021.
Now, as he campaigns for a third term, the PC Higgs is running as much against Justin Trudeau, as he is his provincial opponents. Higgs is echoing Pierre Poilievre with his opposition to the carbon tax and has promised to cut the HST. It’s a strategy other premiers are likely to use in their bids for re-election. They’ll be keen to see if it works in New Brunswick.
New Brunswick is Canada’s only officially bilingual province and under Higgs, its electoral politics has …