People's Alliance of New Brunswick

The People's Alliance of New Brunswick (French: Alliance des gens du Nouveau-Brunswick), founded in July 2010, is a political party registered in the province of New Brunswick, Canada.

History

It was created in the spring of 2010 amidst widespread opposition to the Liberal government's plan to sell NB Power to Hydro-Quebec and what was perceived as lack of credible opposition from the Progressive Conservatives (PCs).^[1] The party aimed to run as many candidates as possible in the provincial election held on September 27, 2010.^[2] It nominated 14, none of whom was elected. The party won 4,365 votes in those ridings.

The leader of the party is Kris Austin, a former interdenominational minister and candidate for the PC Party nomination in the Grand Lake-Gagetown riding.^[3] He was the Deputy Mayor of Minto from 2012 to 2016.

In March 2013, former Liberal MLA Leroy Armstrong joined the party, citing an inability to accept Liberal policies, such as support for bilingualism, and problems with ineligible voters in the 2012 Liberal leadership election.^[4]

The party has faced some difficulty in Francophone New Brunswick, due to perceptions about the party's stance on language issues.^[5] These perceptions stemmed in part from its first president's ties with the Anglo Society of New Brunswick.^[6] They have since been nurtured by the party's position on language skill requirements in the civil service, and by its opposition to duality in education.^[7] These perceptions were also partly the result of two candidates for party nominations publicly leaving the party, in October 2013. They accused it of showing a "lack of respect" towards the province's Acadian community.^[8] Similar comments were made in April 2016 by the party's former vice-president and "Francophone liaison" who deplored the Party's removal of his translations from its official website following his resignation.^[9] The party has argued that Francophone concerns about its policies are unfounded, and that the party supports official bilingualism in a practical use that ensures government services are provided in both official languages.^[10]

The party has registered between zero and three percent support in the polls since the 2010 New Brunswick election.^[11][12]

Policies

Early on, the party platform advocated free votes for Members of the Legislative Assembly on all matters in the legislature. Other planks were developed at a policy convention in Oromocto in July 2010, including support for official bilingualism, elimination of ambulance fees, and opposition to a second reactor at Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station.^[2][13]

Adopted policies after the 2010 election include revising the province's Forestry Act^[14] and changing natural resource royalty rates.^[15] The party's position on shale gas development had sought to leave the decision to a free vote by all MLAs,^[16] but was changed in 2013 to a call for a popular referendum.^[17]

In March 2014 the People's Alliance released the first plank of its 2014 Election Platform: the party proposed to rein in MLA salaries and expenses, eliminate MLA pensions by transforming them into an RRSP mirrored in the private sector, and reduce the size of cabinet.^[18]

The party held its annual general meeting and policy convention in April 2014 asking party members and people from around the province to submit and debate items for further study which would make up its election platform^[19] for the September election. The platform centred on eight key items:^[20]

• Return to fiscal balance
• Democratic reform
• A path to economic prosperity
• Common sense approach to language policy
• Successful future built on a solid educational foundation
• A vision for Healthcare
• Strengthening rural New Brunswick
• Natural Resources

Other items in included merging the two health authorities, Ambulance NB and Facilicorp into one bilingual authority serving all New Brunswickers. It also proposed merging Invest NB into the Department of Economic Development and transforming the department into a capital venture fund. It would change the Motor Vehicle Act to eliminate the front licence plate and tag stickers, allow two-year registration option for vehicle owners, and two-year inspection intervals on vehicles six years or newer (or up to 150,000 km of usage). The party called for NB Liquor to complete the move towards private retailers selling alcohol (the majority of sites are now private), and for NB Liquor to maintain the profitability of wholesale and distribution which has been implemented in the province of Alberta.

2014 election

During the 2014 election campaign (August–September 2014), the People's Alliance fielded 18 candidates. The party presented a 36-page election platform with policies on fiscal responsibility, economic development, a comprehensive education strategy, democratic reform among many other policies, which was completely costed out and audited by an independent firm. In mid-August the governing Progressive Conservative party threatened to pull out of the CBC,^[21] 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^[22] Rogers soon followed suit, reversing its decision to keep Austin and Coon out. In the end, only CTV (Bell Media) 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. After some problems with the tabulators on election night, and following confirmation from Elections NB that one or more people may have voted in Austin's riding who shouldn't have, he was granted a recount^[23] 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 SW Miramichi Bay du Vin.

Election results

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
2010	Kris Austin	4,363	1.2	0 / 55	0	5th	Opposition
2014	Kris Austin	7,964	2.1	0 / 49	0	5th	Opposition

References

External links

• Official website