A University of New Brunswick political scientist is not surprised at the outcome of Monday’s election.
J.P. Lewis said the cost of the election and the results could be problematic in creating more apathy and cynicism towards politics.
He said snap elections are not new but this time around with COVID-19 is a big factor and the opposition parties not wanting an election.
“The public opinion on that never turned. I don’t think Trudeau ever convinced Canadians there was a need for an election. I think he and the Liberals are frankly, really lucky, they hung on to a minority government,” Lewis said.
Lewis said a few weeks ago he thought it was the Conservative’s election to lose.
Prior to the vote, Lewis wondered how the People’s Party of Canada would impact the results provincially.
He wondered if the PPC would split any votes on the right and causes changes to the results but, that didn’t transpire.
“Back in the early 90’s, when the Reform party first ran candidates in New Brunswick. Incumbent Progressive Conservative Greg Thompson lost his seat. We don’t know if it’s votes directly moving over but, there were enough Reform votes there, if he would have had some of those he would have won the seat,” Lewis said.
When it comes to the very tight race in Fredericton, Lewis said what may be considered a surprise is the “complete collapse” of the Green vote not only in that riding but in the entire province.
Lewis was surprised by the outcome in Saint John-Rothesay which he thought was a closer race.
Incumbent Liberal Wayne Long defeated Conservative Mel Norton.
“Wayne’s strategy of really putting ‘the member of parliament first, party second’ and focusing on that so much. He didn’t have any drag on his vote because of the unpopularity of Trudeau or the Liberal Party. Mel Norton is a known politician in the region. I think that was quite a win by Long,” Lewis said.
