8 out of 10 New Brunswick ridings will get same MP as last time
The 2021 federal election saw candidates re-elected in eight New Brunswick ridings, as well as one victorious newcomer and one winner still to be declared.
The winners are:
Beauséjour: Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal
Acadie-Bathurst: Serge Cormier, Liberal
Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe: Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal
Madawaska-Restigouche: René Arseneault, Liberal
Saint John-Rothesay: Wayne Long, Liberal
Tobique-Mactaquac: Richard Bragdon, Conservative
New Brunswick Southwest: John Williamson, Conservative
Fundy Royal: Rob Moore, Conservative
Miramichi-Grand Lake: Jake Stewart, Conservative
Of the winners declared Monday night, Conservative Jake Stewart was the only first-timer at the federal level. The former cabinet minister stepped into federal politics after resigning as an MLA.
The only riding where there wasn't a clear winner on Monday night was Fredericton, where Liberal Jenica Atwin and Conservative Andrea Johnson jostled back and forth, separated much of the night by a mere percentage point in the share of votes.
More than 2,000 local mail-in ballots won't even be counted until Tuesday, so it's possible a result won't be clear when people wake up Tuesday morning.
Beauséjour was the first riding to be called by CBC's federal election results tracker, with LeBlanc named the winner shortly after the polls closed at 8:30 p.m. First elected in 2000, the cabinet minister and longtime friend of Justin Trudeau will be serving as MP for an eighth straight term.
All four other Liberal MPs were first elected as part of the party's sweep of New Brunswick in 2015, and all were re-elected in 2019.
For the Conservatives, Moore was first elected MP for Fundy Royal in 2004 and was re-elected three times. He was defeated in 2015 before coming back to win the seat in 2019.
Williamson was first elected MP in 2011 but suffered defeat as part of the Liberals' sweep of the province in 2015 before regaining the seat in 2019.
Bragdon was first elected in 2019, taking the seat from the Liberals.
Policy items to watch
Access to abortion has been among the issues in New Brunswick, both in this election, and the last one in 2019.
And with the Liberals forming a minority government, it could come up again in the near future if the party follows through on its campaign promise to introduce regulations under the Canada Health Act that would bolster access to publicly funded abortions.
For provinces that don't comply, the Liberal party said it would punish them by way of an "automatic penalty applied against federal health transfers.:
The promise seemed squarely aimed at New Brunswick, where Premier Blaine Higgs and his predecessors have refused to have Medicare funding cover abortions at Fredericton's Clinic 554.
Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said during the campaign tht he supports access to abortion, but he'd let the provincial government decide what it wanted to do on the issue.
A Liberal government could also see the two levels of government forced to the table over the Liberals' plan to introduce its promised child-care plan.
The Liberals say the plan would see Ottawa partner with provinces to provide child-care services for $10 a day.
Aat the time the election was called, New Brunswick was one of only three provinces that have not signed child-care agreements with the Trudeau government to fund new spaces.
