Campaign hits halfway point with troublesome jobs report, health promises

Good evening,

TGIF! Cap off your week by catching up with the latest provincial election news as the campaign passes the midway point, and we'll see you again on Monday.

Here's what we're talking about on Day 16, including a dispatch from the trail by Jacques Poitras.

Top headlines

• Dismal job numbers throw wrench into Liberal campaign

  • A disappointing job count by Statistics Canada in New Brunswick in August that shows three straight months of job losses has thrown a jolt of bad economic news into the province's election campaign with a little more than two weeks to go until voting day.

• Major student debt election promise by Liberals hides earlier policy fumble

  • The CBC's Robert Jones examines how the Gallant Liberals' election pledge to eliminate student loan interest could have been enacted earlier this year.

• Election Day 16: Where the leaders went on Friday

  • Catch up on the movements and actions of the political parties on Friday.

The talking point

Breast cancer survivors and advocates rejoiced Friday after New Brunswick's two major political parties pledged to make it mandatory that women are made aware of their breast density and the inherent risks.

Just ask Kathy Kaufield.

Kaufield, a survivor turned advocate, recently shared the story of how she discovered a lump six months after an apparently clear mammogram. Her dense breast tissue, which is linked to a greater risk of developing cancer, obscured the tumour.

She wasn't aware of the risks of having dense breasts — something an estimated 80,000 New Brunswick have — but now Kaufield is working to ensure women are informed and can seek additional screening.

She launched an online campaign urging party leaders to promise change. The Liberals and Progressive Conservatives responded Friday.

Read Kaufield's story and how a group is fighting the issue at the national level.

The pulse

Carbon tax is turning into a key election issue, so the CBC's Jacques Poitras explains carbon tax scenarios and how they affect you.

Come to the story, stay for the animation of the federal environment minister hitting Brian Gallant and Blaine Higgs with a gavel.

Carbon tax scenarios

6 years ago

Duration 1:54

The CBC's provincial affairs reporter, Jacques Poitras, breaks down the carbon tax scenarios for you. And whether you will pay more.

Riding profile: Moncton Centre

Longtime Liberal MLA Chris Collins won the newly formed riding of Moncton Centre in a landslide during the 2014 election, defeating former PC MLA and current Court of Queen's Bench Justice Marie-Claude Blais by a 2-1 margin.

Part former Moncton East, part former Moncton North, the riding was established when the boundaries were redrawn in 2013, and, at first blush, it appeared to be another stronghold for Liberal support in southeastern New Brunswick.

Then, on April 5 this year, the Gallant government sent out a cryptic email to media about a teleconference with the premier that evening. The call was Brian Gallant revealing that allegations of harassment were levelled against Collins, the Speaker. Collins was removed from the Liberal caucus.

The allegations were investigated and deemed "founded in part" and Collins apologized before announcing he would run as an independent. Click here for a detailed account of the events.

Now, Moncton Centre is one of 11 ridings with six names on the ballot, but instead of some lesser-known independents or KISS NB candidates, the main five parties are up against an 11-year MLA, former cabinet minister and Speaker with continued support.

The CBC's Kate Letterick went door-knocking with several of the candidates.

From the trail

The CBC's Jacques Poitras ...

It was either a show of strength, or a show of weakness.

Ten Progressive Conservative candidates from across the north held a news conference in Shippagan on Thursday to announce — well, to announce they're not pushovers.

This vow, delivered with gusto by Shippagan-Lamè​que-Miscou candidate Robert Gauvin, may have something to do with current PC Leader Blaine Higgs's inability to debate in French, and his previous involvement with the anti-bilingualism Confederation of Regions party.

The candidates pledged to pick up the torch carried by previous francophone PCs, particularly during the Richard Hatfield years, when they worked as a bloc to defend francophone interests.

"If those MLAs had been pushovers, we would not have obtained what we obtained," said Gauvin, the son of Hatfield-era minister Jean Gauvin. "We have a team like that, ready to fight."

The message harkens back to the 1982 election, when francophone PC candidates adopted their own separate slogan, largely unnoticed in anglophone areas: "Encore Plus Fort avec Hatfield" — "Even stronger with Hatfield." This distinct campaign message was created by the then-premier's French lieutenant, Jean-Maurice Simard, and Yves Dupré, a Quebec communications consultant who worked on the Parti Québécois 1981 election campaign.

And it paid off: the PCs won nine francophone seats, part of a crushing landslide victory.

But there's a vast difference between the heady days of "Encore Plus Fort" and today. Hatfield had been in office for 12 years and already had a contingent of francophone MLAs, as well as a track record of both concrete measures and symbolic gestures for francophones. Higgs lacks all of that.

Just as telling is that some of the candidates in Shippagan came from as far away as Campbellton and Grand Falls — giving up the better part of a day of campaigning in their ridings to deliver this message instead.

Gauvin has been explaining and defending Higgs for weeks, and he said Thursday it was time to move on to "more important issues."

Yet his own decision to convene this extraordinary news conference demonstrates that he felt the need to explain and defend. Again.

Where the leaders were

Kris Austin: Campaigning in Miramichi; returning to Fredericton-Grand Lake

David Coon: Attending a local candidates debate in Fredericton; campaigning in Fredericton South

Brian Gallant: An announcement in Moncton followed by stops in Saint John and Quispamsis

Blaine Higgs: Announcements in Fredericton and Saint-Jacques; stops in Florenceville-Bristol and Edmundston

Jennifer McKenzie: Campaigning in Saint John Harbour

More Coverage

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