A two-party fight on election night kept New Brunswick’s federal political map similar to the 2021 vote. Out of the province’s 10 ridings, the Liberals tallied six and the Conservatives carried four. In the popular vote, the Liberals recorded 53.4 per cent of ballot support while the Conservatives took 40.8 per cent. Trailing far behind in the province’s popular vote were the NDP with 2.9 per cent and the Green Party with 1.7 per cent. The province recorded a voter turnout of more than 72 per cent. Jamie Gillies, coordinator for public policy and communications at St. Thomas University, said the expectation of close votes in certain ridings never materialized. Gillies pointed to Fredericton-Oromocto (won by first-time Liberal candidate David Myles) and Saint John-Kennebecasis (won in re-election by Liberal Wayne Long) as non-nailbiters. “Both of those ridings, I think right up until election day for a lot of observers, were thought of as battlegrounds,” said Gillies. “They weren’t even close.” Myles won Fredericton-Oromocto with 61.3 per cent of the vote, and Long won Saint John-Kennebecasis with 58.1 per cent. The closest race of the evening was in Miramichi-Grand Lake, where former provincial Progressive Conservative MLA Mike Dawson secured a 394-vote lead over former Liberal MLA Lisa Harris. New Brunswick’s three urban ridings, along with northern Francophone ridings, went Liberal. Ridings which included more rural areas went Conservative. “You sort of still had the echo of the Susan Holt-Blaine Higgs election of last year,” said Gillies. New Brunswick MPs elected: For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
