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Once rejected by 2 political parties, Chris Duffie set to take on Dominic Cardy for Liberals

New Brunswick Liberals are turning to a candidate they rejected less than three years ago to take on Education Minister Dominic Cardy in his Fredericton-area riding.

Chris Duffie was nominated by acclamation to run for the Liberals in Fredericton West-Hanwell, the third time he has tried to get on the ballot.

"There's lots of good work to be done out in the riding," he said. "It's exciting and I'm looking forward to doing it."

Premier Blaine Higgs has been dropping hints that he may call an early election by this fall.

In 2017 Duffie, a Progressive Conservative supporter at the time, took the party to court, arguing it tried to prevent him from challenging incumbent PC MLA Carl Urquhart for the party nomination in the riding of Carleton-York.

Duffie had missed the deadline to file his paperwork but argued it was because the party didn't properly publicize that the nomination was coming up.

After a judge ruled that the PC party hadn't broken any of its rules, Duffie decided to run for the Liberals.

But the Liberals also rejected him, refusing to let him seek their nomination.

New leader helped

This year Duffie got the green light to run from the party's vetting process, but in a different riding.

"What has changed? They understand where I'm coming from and what I'm working towards and what I'm working for," Duffie said. "I'm working for the people."

He also said a new Liberal leader, Kevin Vickers, "goes a long way" toward him being able to run.

In 2017 the Liberals said they disqualified Duffie because, as a PC member, he had criticized then-Premier Brian Gallant and his government only months before.

On Monday, former Liberal MLA Roly MacIntyre, a member of the committee vetting candidates, offered a different reason for that decision.

He said it was because it would "generally not be appropriate for someone who runs for another party's nomination to run for the Liberal nomination in the same election."

Because Duffie has remained involved with the Liberals since 2018, "we have no further concerns in this regard," he said.

Duffie doesn't live in Fredericton West-Hanwell but says he did in the past, for about 15 years, and has "a great footprint" in the area.

Chances are 'pretty good'

Ed Hunter/CBC
Ed Hunter/CBC

He isn't nervous about taking on Cardy, one of the most high-profile ministers in the government of Premier Blaine Higgs. "I think my chances are pretty good or I wouldn't be doing this."

In 2018, Cardy won the riding with 31.8 percent of the vote, with Liberal Cindy Miles close behind with 27.9 percent.

"I believe my record will speak for itself, as will Mr. Duffie's," Cardy said in an emailed statement.

"Whenever the election is called, I hope we can have a conversation based on our parties' contrasting visions for the future of the people of Fredericton West-Hanwell, and for our province."

The Cardy-Duffie race won't be the first time they have crossed paths. During his 2017 court challenge, Duffie presented evidence that Higgs and Cardy had promised him a job if he stayed out of the PC nomination race.

Both the PCs and Liberals have started nominating candidates, or scheduling nominations, ahead of a possible campaign this year.

The PCs have 13 nominating conventions scheduled so far in the coming weeks, 12 for ridings they hold and one in Tracadie-Sheila, held by the Liberals.

The Liberals have already nominated four candidates, including three sitting MLAs. Duffie is the first candidate nominated in a riding held by another party.