Robert Gauvin joining the race for provincial Liberal leadership

MLA Robert Gauvin will seek the leadership of the New Brunswick Liberal Party, CBC News has confirmed.

Gauvin was elected in 2018 as the Progressive Conservative MLA for Shippagan-Lamèque-Miscou and named deputy premier by Blaine Higgs. He quit the cabinet in early 2020 over the government's proposed hospital reforms that would have closed six emergency departments at night.

He crossed the floor and snagged the Shediac Bay-Dieppe riding as a Liberal candidate the same year. 

Gauvin told Radio-Canada Sunday that "the intention is confirmed" and a formal announcement will be made in the coming weeks. 

"I want to make a positive difference for the province of New Brunswick... I believe in this province," he said. 

Gauvin said after New Brunswickers were faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, they deserve someone who will make their lives happier. 

He said he's been a Liberal now just as long as he was part of the Progressive Conservative party. 

"I feel a lot more conformable on the Liberal side," he said. 

He's worked to support Clinic 554, increasing inclusion and building stronger relationships with First Nations communities, which Gauvin said has been rewarding. 

"It's the compassionate side.... I feel in my place," said Gauvin. 

He said one of his priorities as the Liberal leader would be to strengthen New Brunswick's health-care system with better wages and services. 

There are now four candidates in the Liberal race. The others are T.J. Harvey, a former Tobique-Mactaquac MP, Liberal MLA Donald Arsenault and Rothesay businessman Seamus Byrne. 

The Liberals announced last year they would select a new leader this August. 

Roger Melanson is the party's interim leader.