‘It hasn’t been easy’: N.B. legislature adjourns with goodbye speeches as attention turns to October election

Friday marked the last day of the 60th legislature, with MLAs now turning their attention to election campaigns, or for about a quarter of them – what comes after politics.

Twelve MLAs elected as progressive conservatives in the 2020 provincial election will not be returning.

Dominic Cardy became an independent during the session, and Jake Stewart left to become a member of parliament in 2021.

Some are retiring, while others say they’re not returning for several reasons.

Jeff Carr says things just feel different.

“It was always about following a process and making decisions with the team effort and that was one of my decisions why I decided I want to go somewhere where that happens,” he told reporters Friday.

When the house resumes after the October election, it will mark the first time in 25 years a Carr brother has not sat among the 49 MLAs.

“It’s very bittersweet. But I’m very proud that we’ve been able to serve the people of our areas, our communities, our families for 25 years,” he said. “All total with the three of us, I think we have well over 35 years of experience in the legislature, which is very uncommon.”

Premier Blaine Higgs says the last year has been difficult.

He acknowledges some MLAs are leaving because of disagreements over Policy 713 – a policy brought forward last spring, which requires children under 16 to have parental consent before they can officially change their preferred first names or pronouns at school.

“There was always a tenseness in there, in the caucus meetings and, I don’t, you know, like that to be the case for sure,” he told reporters. “But we had the majority of our caucus, 85 per cent, as I mentioned there, that prepared and wanted to move forward.”

Higgs said his team has some “good candidates” who’ve stepped forward to run, mentioning he’d like to make gains in the north.

A Narrative Research poll released this week shows a tight race among Liberals and PC’s – finding 37 per cent of decided voters would vote Liberal and 34 per cent for the PC’s.

Most MLAs who are leaving made a speech in the legislature over the course of the last two weeks.

Dorothy Shephard, an MLA for 14 years who partially led the province through the pandemic as health minister, chose not to.

Natural Resource and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland said in his speech that people should be looking ahead.

“The question shouldn’t be whether an MLA is not going to run, the question should be: if you want to be an MLA, why are you running?” he said. “We should be directing that question to those who want to enter the arena, not those who are exiting.”

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.