With rules in place, N.B. PC leadership race kicks off — unofficially
Eligibility rules will force interim leader Glen Savoie to decide by Canada Day whether he wants to run
The leadership race for New Brunswick's Progressive Conservative party is unofficially underway — with one potential candidate being forced to make a decision before Canada Day.
Rules for the race adopted last week include a proviso that anyone holding the position of interim leader on July 1 of this year is ineligible to run for the permanent position.
That means Saint John East MLA Glen Savoie would have to relinquish the interim job soon if he wants to have the option of running.
Savoie says he's been too focused on scrutinizing the Holt Liberal government in the legislature to give it much thought, and he won't make up his mind until after MLAs adjourn the session for the summer on June 6.
"I'll look at that at that time, but it takes discipline to say, 'I'm not dealing with this right now because I have an important task in front of me,'" he said.
"And I have been disciplined. I've put 100 per cent of my energy into holding this government to account."
Traditionally, MLAs who become interim leaders of their parties don't become candidates for the leadership, though there's often no rule prohibiting them from running.
PCs will choose their new leader Oct. 17, 2026, with the official kickoff for the campaign set for October of this year.
Several party members are already thinking about it.
Fredericton-Grand Lake MLA Kris Austin, a former leader of the People's Alliance who moved to the PCs and became a cabinet minister in 2022, is one of them.
"I am still considering the possibility of a run for leader," Austin said in an email.
"I will take the summer to gauge support and have discussions with my wife, family and supporters before making a final decision."
Former cabinet minister Daniel Allain, who was shuffled out of cabinet in June 2023 after being part of a caucus revolt against then-premier Blaine Higgs, has been open about his interest in the job.
"I'm seriously thinking about it," he said.
"It's a family decision. It's a decision based on what the members think. … There's lots of time to decide."
To quality as a candidate, a party member has to amass $35,000 in donations to the party earmarked as support for their bid.
He or she also has to collect 500 endorsements from party members, with at least 20 each from seven out of nine regions of the province as defined by the party's constitution.
A ranked-ballot system will allow party members to vote in advance by mail rather than at the main convention venue or a satellite polling location, the system the party used in its last leadership content in 2016.
That led to a long day marred by delays in the three rounds of voting, with large numbers of party members giving up and drifting away as the process stretched from the noon hour into the late evening.