People's Alliance of New Brunswick

History

It was created in the spring of 2010 amidst widespread opposition to the Liberal government's plan to sell NB Power to Hydro-Quebec and what was perceived as lack of credible opposition from the Progressive Conservatives (PCs). The party aimed was to quickly run as many candidates as possible in the provincial election held on September 27, 2010, and nominated 14, none of whom was elected. The party won 4,365 votes in those ridings.

The leader of the party is Kris Austin, a former interdenominational minister who has been the Deputy Mayor of Minto since 2012.

In March 2013, former Liberal MLA Leroy Armstrong joined the party, citing an inability to accept Liberal policies, and problems with ineligible voters in the 2012 Liberal leadership election.

The party has faced some difficulty in Francophone New Brunswick, due to perceptions about the party's stance on language issues. These perceptions were nurtured in part by the party's position on language skill requirements in the civil service. The party has argued that Francophone concerns about its policies are unfounded, and that the party supports official bilingualism in a practical use that ensures government services are provided in both official languages.

Policies

Early on, the party platform was based on free votes for Members of the Legislative Assembly on all matters in the legislature. Other planks were developed at a policy convention in Oromocto in July 2010, including support for official bilingualism, elimination of ambulance fees, and opposition to a second reactor at Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station.

Adopted policies since the last election include revising the province's Forestry Act and changing natural resource royalty rates. The party's position on shale gas development was developed in 2011 and in 2013 adding the call for a referendum which would let the people have the ultimate decision on the issue.

In March 2014 the People's Alliance released the first plank of its 2014 Election Platform; The party would rein in MLA salaries, expenses, eliminate MLA pensions by transforming them into an RRSP mirrored in the private sector and reduce the size of cabinet

The party held its annual general meeting and policy convention in April 2014 asking party members and people from around the province to submit and debate items for further study which would make up its election platform for the September election. The platform centered on eight key items

Other items in included merging the two health authorities, as well as Ambulance NB and Facilicorp into one bilingual authority serving all New Brunswickers. In addition, merging Invest NB into economic development and transforming the department into a capital venture fund. Changes to the Motor Vehicle Act by eliminating the front licence plate, eliminating tag stickers, two-year registration option for vehicle owners and two-year inspection intervals on vehicles six years or newer (or up to 150,000 km of usage). The party called for NB Liquor to complete the move towards private retailers selling alcohol (the majority of sites currently are private), while NB Liquor would maintain the profitability of wholesale and distribution which has been implemented in the province of Alberta.

2014 election

During the 2014 election campaign (August–September 2014), the People's Alliance fielded 18 candidates. The party presented a 36-page election platform with policies on fiscal responsibility, economic development, a comprehensive education strategy, democratic reform among many other policies, which was completely costed out and audited by an independent firm. Mid August the governing Progressive Conservative party threatened to pull out of the CBC, Rogers and CTV leaders debates if People's Alliance leader Kris Austin or Green leader David Coon were allowed into the televised debates. CBC stood its ground, citing the right of all New Brunswickers to see and hear all five leaders debate the issues. Soon after David Alward reversed his decision when CBC was to go ahead without him Rogers soon followed suit, reversing its decision to keep Austin and Coon out. In the end, only CTV (Bell media) kept Kris Austin (PANB) and David Coon (Green Party) out of its roundtable debate, which was aired three days before election night.

The election results did not yield the party any seats, however, leader Kris Austin narrowly missed being elected by only 26 votes in the riding of Fredericton Grand Lake. After the tabulator fiasco of election night, as well as confirmation from Elections NB of possibly one or more people voting in Austin's riding who shouldn't have, he was granted a recount The recount upheld the election night results with only one change, that Austin fell short by 25 votes.

The party did have a two third-place finishes with LeRoy Armstrong in Sussex-Fundy-St.Martins and deputy leader Wes Gullison in SW Miramichi Bay du Vin.