Susan Holt leads Liberals to majority, Blaine Higgs loses seat | CBC ...

Mia Urquhart · CBC News

· Posted: Oct 21, 2024 7:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: 36 minutes ago

New Brunswickers have voted for change — and helped make some history too. 

Susan Holt led her Liberal team to a solid majority government Monday, bringing an end to six years of Progressive Conservative rule. Even Premier Blaine Higgs lost his seat in the red tide of change.

The final tally is 31 seats for the Liberals, 16 for the Progressive Conservatives and two for the Greens, including Green Party Leader David Coon

Holt is the first woman to win the premier's job in New Brunswick history. 

"We're going to watch the bottom line and deliver fiscal responsibility while we invest in the services that you need, like health care and education and an affordable place to call home," the premier-designate said after her victory.

When the results started to roll in within minutes of the polls closing, what was looking like a close race, according to opinion polls, soon became an obvious Liberal win.

By 9:15 p.m., Higgs took to the podium at his headquarters in Quispamsis to concede defeat. 

He said it was "not the night we hoped for."

Higgs said he had already called Holt to congratulate her and "wish her every success." 

His message to successful PC candidates was to keep the party together while they rebuild. He said there were "so many things left undone on our path to fix the province."

Higgs later said it was "extremely unlikely" that he would stay on as party leader. 

Among the PC losses were five cabinet ministers — Jill Green in Fredericton North, Greg Turner in Moncton South, Ted Flemming in Rothesay, Ernie Steeves in Moncton Northwest, and Réjean Savoie in Miramichi Bay-Neguac.

In Coon's election-night speech in Fredericton, he acknowledged the loss of Kevin Arseneau to Liberal Pat Finnigan.

He vowed to continue to build the party. 

"And one thing's for sure. We know that Blaine Higgs is no longer the premier of this province," said Coon to great applause from the crowd. 

In her speech, Holt said her party will focus on education, health care and affordable housing.

"We are going to lead with balance," she said. 

WATCH | Holt says 'mama bear' will come out to protect her daughters when she becomes premier:

Holt, 47, a mother of three young girls, said she had a message for the public and the news media.

"My mama bear's going to come out," she said. "Please treat my children with care because they are sacrificing for New Brunswick," she said. 

Given the sagging popularity of the federal Liberal leader, Holt seemed to try to distance herself from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the campaign. Trudeau sent her congratulations on Monday night.

"We've got work ahead to build more homes, protect our official languages, and improve healthcare for New Brunswickers. I'm looking forward to working with you and your Liberal team to make it happen," he wrote on social media.

The Liberals made huge gains in the three big cities of southern New Brunswick. The largest gain was in Saint John, where votes increased by 27 per cent for the Liberals, followed by Fredericton, which saw an increase of 23 per cent. Moncton saw votes increase by 16 per cent.   

From blue to red, Liberals won nearly all Saint John-area ridings.

Liberal candidate and former city councillor David Hickey won Saint John Harbour, while Dr. John Dornan, who won a wrongful dismissal case against the Higgs government, won Saint John Portland-Simonds.

WATCH | New Brunswickers vote for change:

Kate Elman Wilcott took Saint John West-Lancaster, while federal PC-turned-Liberal John Herron won  against controversial candidate Faytene Grasseschi in Hampton-Fundy-St. Martins.

Higgs-government cabinet minister Glen Savoie was the only PC in the region to hold onto his seat in Saint John East. 

This election also saw a record number of female MLAs elected — 17 women won seats, compared to 14 in 2020, 11 in 2018, and only eight in 2014. 

The final vote tally was 376,026 a turnout of about 66 per cent. In 2020, by comparison, 378,169 people voted in total, about 66 per cent of registered voters.

In 2020, the PCs won 27 seats, the Liberals 17, the Greens three and the People's Alliance two.

Neither the People's Alliance nor the NDP got any seats this time around and both lost percentage points of the popular vote. The People's Alliance dropped from 9.2 per cent to 0.9 per cent. While still down from 2020, the NDP jumped ahead of the People's Alliance this time around with 1.3 per cent. In 2020, the NDP received 1.7 per cent of the popular vote. 

The Liberals received 48 per cent, the PCs 35 per cent, the Greens 14 per cent.