Miramichi MLA resigns provincial seat to run for federal Conservatives
Mike Dawson says provincial Tory party needs to be more transparent, inclusive in wake of last fall’s defeat
Miramichi West Progressive Conservative MLA Mike Dawson is resigning from the New Brunswick legislature to become a candidate in the federal election campaign.
Dawson will be the Conservative candidate in Miramichi-Grand Lake, a seat won for the party by Jake Stewart in 2021. Stewart announced earlier this month he would not run again.
Dawson's decision starts a six-month clock ticking for Premier Susan Holt to call a byelection — with the departing MLA warning his provincial party that it needs to change its approach.
"I think there needs to be a lot more transparency and a lot more inclusiveness with the membership from the PC party," Dawson said in an interview Monday.
"If the membership doesn't feel wanted, it's not much of a party."
Earlier this year, Dawson said he believed the party needed to be more progressive on some issues and should choose a francophone as its next leader.
He also complained last fall that some members didn't get enough notice to attend the party's annual general meeting held shortly after the PC government of Blaine Higgs was defeated in an election.
"We have to start bringing people together instead of dividing people," he said in an interview.
"It seems like it's easier for people to drive a wedge between people than bring people together."
In his farewell speech in the legislature, Dawson referred to "tensions" with PC Leader Glen Savoie but tried to make it tongue-in-cheek.
"The leader of the Opposition and I are both Miramichiers, and that means we both have a love language that is not understood by many around us who are not from our region," he said.
"I get angry when I'm right, and the leader of the Opposition gets angry when he is wrong."
Dawson wished Savoie well, and Savoie later told reporters that he took the comments as a joke — then called on Premier Susan Holt to call a byelection soon.
Under changes to the Elections Act adopted in 2022, a byelection must be held within six months of a seat in the legislature being certified as vacant.
Savoie said he'd support it happening as early as June.
"As soon as we possibly can, let's get that seat filled so those folks up there have that representation," he said.
Dawson was first elected in a 2022 byelection and was re-elected in the October 2024 provincial election.
He said running federally had not occurred to him until Stewart announced he would not seek re-election.
"It wasn't something that I planned on doing," Dawson said.
"It's just something that — like everything else in life — just popped up."
Dawson said the economic uncertainty with U.S. tariffs on Canadian exports requires a strong leader.
"I think we've got that with the federal leader that we've got running for the Conservative Party," he said.
"We've got to learn to stand on our own two feet and not depend on the Americans."
"I think the country's in a lot worse shape now that it was 10 years ago."
Stewart dropped out amid turmoil within the Miramichi-Grand Lake Conservative membership.
The financial agent for the riding association resigned, alleging that the MP's riding office had been a toxic and manipulative workplace and that eight staffers had quit over the last two years.
Stewart's office was also closed for several weeks.
Mike Morrison, a longtime party supporter and two-time federal candidate, declared that Stewart was unelectable as a result of the turmoil.
Dawson said he hopes he can pull Conservatives together to get through the campaign for the April 28 election and then work on repairing the frayed relationships among members.
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