New Brunswick election campaigning focuses on key ridings

Key ridings to N.B. election Two of the key ridings in the New Brunswick election were supposed to be decided months ago, but byelections were postponed due to COVID-19.

ST. STEPHEN, N.B. — The New Brunswick election campaign is entering its second week Monday, but some candidates have been on the election trail virtually all year.

A pair of N.B. ridings were scheduled to have byelections months ago, but they were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, those ridings may play an important role in determining the outcome of the election.

Kathy Bockus says she’s been in campaign mode since January.

“I keep telling people, this is the longest job interview I’ve ever had,” says Bockus, who was nominated as the Progressive Conservative candidate for New Brunswick’s St. Croix riding in January, when a byelection was expected. “We actually did have a date set, our signs were bought, our literature was ready, our team was ready, and then COVID hit.”

Located in the Southwest corner of the province, including Campobello Island, the St. Croix riding was left without an incumbent after the September 2019 death of former MLA Greg Thompson.

Bockus, a former journalist hopes to hold onto the seat for the Progressive Conservatives.

“I was very pleased when the Premier reiterated yesterday that there are no changes planned a the Charlotte County hospital, no cuts to the E.R.” says Bockus.

St. Croix is one of two ridings where scheduled byelections were cancelled due to the pandemic.

“This riding is actually a riding that mirrors a lot of the issues in the province as a whole,” says Liberal candidate John Gardner, an innkeeper and a long time health care activist. “We speak of rural health care, we’re not the only riding where there’s issues with rural health care.”

New Brunswick’s People’s Alliance Party also has big hopes for its candidate in St. Croix, who has been campaigning for more than half a year.

“I was beating doors way back in January and February, getting to meet people and finding out what their issues were, so I covered a lot of ground before COVID hit,” says Rod Cumberland, a wildlife biologist who has been outspoken on issues like forestry practices and spraying.

“It’s a rural riding. Again, they have had big issues with forestry, with deer in urban areas like St. Andrews, and I happen to have those strengths so it’s a good fit right now,” says Cumberland.

Nearly a year after the death of Greg Thompson, residents of the St. Croix riding have been expecting to go to the polls for a while, but they likely didn’t expect the rest of the province to be heading to the polls along with them.