Bernard LeBlanc outside the Moncton courthouse
There were no cheers — or tears — today in a windowless Moncton courtroom when Madame Justice Brigitte Robichaud finally confirmed that Green Party candidate Megan Mitton had won the riding of Memramcook-Tantramar by 11 votes in the September 24th provincial election.
The judge’s declaration came after a recount of 8,213 ballots that took more than two-and-a-half days.
The hand recount demonstrated the accuracy of New Brunswick’s voting machines which recorded 3,148 votes for Mitton and 3,137 for her Liberal opponent Bernard LeBlanc on election night. The recount also confirmed the machine tally for PC candidate Etienne Gaudet who received 1,518 votes and Hélène Boudreau of the NDP who received 410.
After the result became official, Bernard LeBlanc shook Megan Mitton’s hand and offered his congratulations.
“I’m glad the result is complete,” LeBlanc, who had requested the recount, told reporters later as he stood in the fall sunshine outside the courthouse. “The people down in our area wanted to make sure, since it was close, we wanted to make sure that it was proper. It has been done and it has been proven that the number hasn’t changed,” he said.
Sigh of relief
Megan Mitton at the court house
For her part, Megan Mitton said she was breathing a sigh of relief now that her victory has been confirmed.
“I’m feeling honoured that I did receive the most votes in Memramcook-Tantramar and I’m going to represent that riding in Fredericton,” she said.
When asked how she felt about the potential for the three Green members to hold the balance of power when a minority government is formed, Mitton suggested that her party’s three seats are not enough.
“It’s an interesting situation,” she said, “if there were four of us, then we would really hold the balance of power and responsibility, but as it stands, there are three of us and so ultimately, it will be a Progressive Conservative that would determine what happens, whether the Liberals are able to form government.”
Aside from the three seats held by the Greens, the Liberals hold 21, the PCs 22 and the People’s Alliance three. Any minority government would need the support of at least 25 members to govern in the 49 seat legislature.
Mitton said the Greens have “opened a dialogue” with the PCs, but she suggested it’s still too early for them to decide who to support.
Reasons for victory
Mitton estimates she knocked on at least 3,000 doors since the spring when she started campaigning. She was also helped by two high-profile visits, one by federal Green leader Elizabeth May which attracted about 200 people and the other by the well-known CBC TV science host David Suzuki attended by about 500.
On the other hand, Mitton’s Liberal opponent seems to have skipped door-to-door canvassing at least in Sackville with volunteers leaving campaign literature accompanied by a notice “Sorry we missed you,” even when voters were home. LeBlanc also skipped the first all-candidates’ debate on environmental issues and his Sackville campaign office was open for only for a few hours most days. While Green Mitton lawn signs sprouted up on Sackville lawns throughout the campaign, it was hard to find any Liberal ones. Premier Brian Gallant made one visit to the riding, but said little or nothing about Bernard LeBlanc. Aside from reporters, Gallant’s Memramcook rally was attended by about 25 Liberal supporters.
Mitton says she was able to build on her 2014 campaign by staying engaged in the community and getting to know the whole riding.
“I also think that there’s been a shift politically across the province to looking for different types of voices and different ideas in the legislature,” she adds, “and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Green Party leader David Coon has been in the legislature and shown what just one voice can do and now, we’re able to triple that impact.”
Divided riding
Mitton says she intends to set up constituency offices in both Memramcook and Sackville just as her predecessor did.
A tally of the 2018 results shows that the predominantly French-speaking areas in the 12 polls in and around Memramcook overwhelmingly supported Bernard LeBlanc who received 1,852 votes to Mitton’s 638.
The results were reversed in the predominantly English-speaking town of Sackville’s 12 polls where Mitton received 1,583 votes to LeBlanc’s 686.
To look at my own version of poll by poll results in Memramcook-Tantramar based on figures from Elections New Brunswick, click here.
To listen to Megan Mitton speaking with reporters after the recount, click on the media player below.
Click on the media player below to listen to Bernard LeBlanc speaking with reporters outside the Moncton courthouse.
Thanks for this timely update Bruce, we always look forward to the latest ‘New Wark Times’ to keep us ‘in the know’.
Also ,my wife & I haven’t seen a ‘Poll by Poll’ breakdown of the results for the Memramcook-Tantramar Riding published anywhere & are hoping that you might be able to put them in a “Wark Times” Special. Thanks, Dave Bailie
Reply from Bruce Wark: Thanks for the suggestion Dave. I’ve now included my own version of the poll by poll results near the end of my piece.
The Green Technocracy Loves A Town That Flies the UN Flag and has A University.. p.s. David Suzuki and Liz May coming to Megan’s aid was very impressive.. Sabine Dietz must be so proud of her powerplay in our region.
Thank you for this article. Congratulations to Ms. Mitton. She indeed did a wonderful personalized approach, knocking on so many doors. She should be commended. Will she keep being connected to us like that once in Fredericton, even when becoming taken by more politics and more ideologies? I want to believe so. Time will tell.
A big thank you to Mr. Leblanc. Three mandates in a row. This is admirable to say the least, especially with alternating (red-blue-red?) governance at the provincial level. Any period of rest is well deserved.
I liked the approach of Mr. Gaudet (novice in politics). It was a creative one, I found– travelling and filming messages from his car 😊. For someone who does not have a political network yet, he did very well. He had a great team supporting him too. What I liked about their approach was that it was down to earth. Minimal political blahblahblah. I am biased toward peacekeepers, I have to say. One can only guess why given where I was born.
Mme Boudreau (NDP) reminded me of Croatia—versus France in soccer. I believe she must have won more hearts than votes because of her steady perseverance, performance, and… if I may say it that way, her classy attitude. I find it very surprising that she did not get more votes; many of which went to the Green, I guess?
To conclude, bravo that the re-counting was accurate. Bravo for respecting the people’s voices. Democracy in action is beautiful, regardless of its outcome. This being said, perhaps the issue leading to this result that is not talked about it in the media, or even in town, occurred before we got to the stage of voting/re-counting to check for irregularities. I am talking about the skewed demographics of our town more (student vote). Yes, I agree with Ms. Mitton: There is a political shift and, yes, Mr. Coon has done an admirable performance in Fredericton (I am a fan). In addition to all this, there may be the following factor: A green machine that has started to operate way before the elections… years ago. Anyhow, good and bravo to the students who are truly convinced. However, some of them may have been under the influence of this efficient machine that culminated with the visit of the charismatic Dr. Suzuki. He has encouraged the audience to vote Green and did not accept any question. The event took place at the library, which was rented for this single partisan event (by the Green party). To my knowledge, no similar event occurred with the other parties on campus—besides the very professional debate organized by MASU and moderated by Dr. Mario Lesveque. This is why, in my mind, the real issue of Sackville is that it is a bubble (as a university town); it is not because it is English-speaking (versus the more French-speaking Memramcook), as we talk about in the media.
Anyhow, I repeat bravo again to Ms. Mitton. Good luck to her, to our riding, and province. Onward!