People's Alliance of New Brunswick


The People's Alliance of New Brunswick is a provincial political party registered in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. In the 2018 election, the party won three seats in the provincial legislature for the first time since its founding. The party advocates for "common sense" government and the abolition of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, with a transfer of that office's responsibilities to the office of the provincial ombudsman. The party's platform has been described as "a mixture of economic conservatism, rural populism and opposition to some aspects of official bilingualism and duality".

History

The People's Alliance Party of New Brunswick was created in the spring of 2010 amidst opposition to the provincial government's plan to sell NB Power to Hydro-Quebec, and was officially registered on June 9, 2010.
In the provincial election held on September 27, 2010, the party aimed to run as many candidates as possible. It nominated 14, none of whom were elected. The party won 4,365 votes in those ridings.
The current provincial leader of the party is Kris Austin, a former interdenominational minister and candidate for the PC Party nomination in the Grand Lake-Gagetown riding. He was the Deputy Mayor of Minto from 2012 to 2016.

2014 election

During the 2014 election campaign, the People's Alliance fielded 18 candidates. In mid-August the governing Progressive Conservative party threatened to pull out of the CBC, Rogers and CTV leaders debates if People's Alliance leader Kris Austin or Green leader David Coon were allowed into the televised debates. CBC stood its ground, citing the right of all New Brunswickers to see and hear all five leaders debate the issues. Soon after PC leader David Alward reversed his decision when CBC was to go ahead without him Rogers soon followed suit, reversing its decision to keep Austin and Coon out. In the end, only CTV kept Austin and Coon out of its roundtable debate, which was aired three days before election night.
The party did not win any seats in the election; however, leader Kris Austin missed being elected by only 26 votes in the riding of Fredericton-Grand Lake. Austin was granted a recount. The recount upheld the election night results with only one additional vote going to Austin than originally counted.
The party had two third-place finishes with LeRoy Armstrong in Sussex-Fundy-St.Martins and deputy leader Wes Gullison in Southwest Miramichi-Bay du Vin.

2018 election

In the 2018 election, the party won three seats in the provincial legislature. Party leader Kris Austin was elected in Fredericton-Grand Lake, Rick DeSaulniers was elected in Fredericton-York, and Michelle Conroy was elected in Miramichi, unseating two-time Liberal Cabinet Minister Bill Fraser. The party won 12.58% of the popular vote.

2019 legislative developments

At a December 18, 2018 committee meeting, MLAs of the province increased the budget of the Auditor General by $1 million, something that had long been in the platform of the People's Alliance. The Commissioner of Official Languages also received a 25% budget increase, even though the People's Alliance campaigned on abolishing the office. The constituency office budget was also increased by $10,000 to $50,000 for each MLA. This budget had not seen an increase in ten years, and the money went towards office expenses in each constituency. The base budget of each party was changed to $250,000 with an additional $25,000 per MLA in the caucus. Previously, third parties like the People's Alliance received minimal funding on an ad hoc basis. The raise was met with criticism by the Liberal opposition, as cuts were subsequently made to infrastructure projects in sectors including healthcare and education.

Election results