Mitton delivers her victory speech on Sept. 24, 2018
Megan Mitton’s announcement this week that she is running for the leadership of New Brunswick’s Green Party rekindled memories of that suspense-filled night on September 24th, 2018, when her provincial political career officially began with a razor-thin, 11-vote victory over her Liberal opponent in her second try at winning a seat in the legislature.
“My Dad’s not here, but he inspired me to do this,” she told a roomful of supporters at her Sackville victory party that night as she wiped away a few tears.
“I grew up in a Liberal household,” she said, adding that her father once ran for the provincial Liberals.
“And I remember when I first told him I was running in 2014, and he said, ‘Well, which party?’ And I said, ‘The Greens.’ And he went, ‘Oh, really? But don’t you want to win?'” Mitton said as the room erupted in laughter and then loud cheers.
Reminded of that moment and her late father’s comments Wednesday during an interview with Warktimes, Mitton wiped away tears again before she said: “You know, my values are clear and consistent, and I don’t align with how the Liberals run their party.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Well, what do the Liberals even stand for?” she answered.
“Their values are basically non-existent except wanting power and paying attention to what the polling is saying. Whereas as Greens, we do have consistent values of wanting fairness in our economy, for example, we listen to people, we bring their voices to the legislature rather than just relying on polling data and focussing on that,” she said.
Building the party
Megan Mitton holds a victory bouquet presented to her by her then eight-year-old daughter Quinn after her third election victory in Tantramar in 2024
Mitton says her main task if she wins the leadership, will be to build more support for the party so that Greens win more seats than the two they hold now.
“So, part of the plan in concrete terms is to get out across the province, talk to people and even more importantly, listen to people,” she says.
“Obviously, recruit excellent candidates. And so these are some of the things that if I’m chosen to be leader of the party, that I’ll be getting to work on,” she adds.
Mitton is married, the mother of two children, one, five the other almost 10, but says she’s used to balancing family life with the demands of politics.
“A lot of people who work have different types of challenges,” she says. “So, we’re going to figure it out like we have for the last 10 years.”
In fact, before she gave birth to her second child in 2021, Mitton pushed for changes at the legislature to make it more accommodating for MLAs who have babies including installing changing tables in the building’s bathrooms and altering the rules for parental leave.
“One of the reasons I’m running for the leadership is really because of my kids,” she says.
“What kind of province and what kind of world are we leaving them to grow up in and to live in right now?” she asks.
“The path we’re on is really dangerous and we need leaders who are going to prioritize the health and safety of New Brunswickers.
“And that means taking the climate crisis seriously. And that means not fracking and not building gas and diesel plants and not building hyperscale data centres, but rather investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency and local food and education and health care and things that are really going to ensure the well-being of New Brunswickers,” she says.
Learning from local issues
Megan Mitton at the entrance to Sackville’s Waterfowl Park on Wednesday
Mitton acknowledges that some voters still see the Green Party as one focussed exclusively on climate change and environmental concerns, but argues those issues tie in directly with other main ones.
“It’s true that the climate crisis is a priority for us,” she says, adding that climate change also affects people’s health, food production and the economy.
“When we look at the economy, there are supply chains and agriculture and all kinds of things that get disrupted by wildfires and floods and droughts and heat waves — all of these extreme weather patterns that are being caused by climate change, so we can’t really separate these things out.
“One of the key reasons that I did get into politics and run in 2018 was health care. And that remains a top priority for me,” she says, adding that as the MLA for Tantramar she’s been campaigning for the restoration of 24-hour emergency room services as well as basic improvements to the area’s deteriorating roads.
“It’s kind of an endless battle,” she says.
So far, Mitton is the only declared candidate for the Green Party leadership. The deadline for other candidates to file their papers is noon on Saturday.
If there is more than one candidate, Green Party members will vote for their new leader on December 5th.
To read more about Megan Mitton’s background, click here.
I respect that Megan Mitton needs a job but I cannot support her because, as a member of a fading third party that has effectively become a political dead end, she lacks the legislative power to deliver real results. The Green Party of New Brunswick has sadly shrunk to just two seats in the legislature following recent election losses, and with long-time leader David Coon stepping down, the fractured party is struggling for survival. Voting Green under these conditions leaves our riding entirely shut out of the governing cabinet table where major provincial funding decisions are actually made. Furthermore, in Canada’s first-past-the-post system, backing a virtually dead party risks throwing away your vote, while their rigid ideological focus on environmental red tape threatens to stall critical, pragmatic engineering upgrades—such as the urgent infrastructure overhaul required for the Chignecto Isthmus trade corridor.
While I can agree with you that there are really only two parties to vote for in NB, since I personally can’t vote for either one, I’d be either not voting, or throwing my vote away anyway.
So with that said, I’d rather vote for someone who actually has proven to give a fig about the area I live in, who has kept things in the public view and actually talks to the people of her riding (which other MLA’s haven’t done, at least in my opinion, for a while before she became our MLA).
In my opinion, there hasn’t been anyone who has done a lot for our area since Marilyn Trenholme-Counsell, and that’s because of the positions she held before retirement. And what is holding Megan back is the perpetual insanity of electing the same two parties over and over again and expecting ‘something different’ each election.
I’ll stick with Megan and if it means my vote is ‘thrown away’, at least it was still cast supporting someone who I think does the job.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man [or woman] who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
―Theodore Roosevelt
“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.”
– Kenny Rogers
“the fractured party is struggling for survival”
Any evidence of that, or are you campaigning for some other party? A leadership change, or the loss of a seat, doesn’t indicate a struggle for survival.
Claiming that there is no point to third parties because they will not form government misses the point. A party like the Greens can
-hold the balance of power in minority governments
-eventually grow in size, especially as their main issue, the environment, becomes more critical, as it unquestionably will as people wake up to how environmental degradation affects their income, their housing values, their insurance rates, their food supply, their shorelines, their safety, their national security, and their children’s future
-advance policies that will be adopted by government when they see the percentage of the popular vote that supports those policies enough to vote Green
Thanks for this story about Megan Mitton of McGill… I will be curious to see who runs in the next election in Tantramar against her .. however… I can advise that Donna Allen, Libertarian, WILL not be running for office at MLA in Tantramar as she had done in 2024 and that the party is looking for a new candidate to run for the Libertarian Party of New Brunswick [ lpnb.ca ] in this riding. As a side note I considered running in this riding for MLA as Libertarian’s representative but due to a lot of throttling by social media in the world of Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and LinkedIn I would be find it next to impossible to work on any reach of my campaign — so that leaves some opportunity for a liberty lover to step in.
Greens don’t really represent rural people and Megan has only been able to keep her MLA spot due to low voter turnout.. something for any candidate who wants to run in the region to think about. Connecting with rural voters is key.. the university town pretty much backs Megan no matter what here and the environmentalist in the region.
Megan is predominantly a one-issue politician. We need more than that.
She’s stood up against the Gas Plant.
Stood up for doing something about the Dyke system before it’s too late.
She has stood up and fought for our health care.
She has stood up for affordable housing.
Advocated for increased funds for flu shots and diabetic supplies.
Advocated for – and got – more family friendly work environment for the Legislative Assembly.
… seems to me that there is more than “one” issue she’s stood for.
Most of what you listed are basically all politicians playbook issues, housing, healthcare, infrastructure and then of course there is the environmental activism, which is her main focus. And the rights in legislature was to her benefit. She’s a defined one issue candidate and you can have her as your mla but she’ll never get anything accomplished. She uses a left wing voting base and very left leaning university town to keep getting elected and likely will again. But she’ll never make any real difference. Just warm feelings for this who vote for her thinking they are making a stand.
Standing up for what? The hospital was largely saved by the efforts of two former mayors, not hers. She brought nothing to this town to improve the economy or jobs. She has no economic plans…..just out there trying to shut stuff down. She’s too far left and not practical enough for most of us. If it wasn’t for the University and their ilk, she would not be elected.
Comment from Bruce Wark: Thanks for your comment Allen, but I’m afraid you are rewriting history. The reason that Blaine Higgs cancelled his plans to close rural hospitals, including Sackville’s in February 2020, was that he had a minority government with the Greens holding 3 seats and the People’s Alliance holding 3 more. Green leader David Coon said openly his party would vote to bring the government down if it pressed ahead with its plans. Megan Mitton held one of those three seats. The two former Sackville mayors had no power to bring the government down, but Megan Mitton and her fellow elected Greens did. And that’s why Higgs abandoned his plans and moreover, refused to honour his promise to come to Sackville and explain his position. I covered it all and saw it happen. So, please don’t rewrite history this way.
Ralston – sure, they’re issues most politicians stand for, but she’s actually and actively worked on them, which is more than most and beyond “lip service” that a playbook usually is. Environmental Activism is not her main focus, it’s one of many.
The rights in the Legislature was something she did benefit from, but it’s also still a fact she advocated for, and got, that passed for *everyone* after her.
Considering she got “that” accomplished, she also helped us keep our hospital and continues to push back on the Government for a lot of it’s stupid stuff, your “she’ll never get anything accomplished” is not true at all.
“Very left leaning university town” – are you kidding? Do you live here? Because we’re not all THAT “Very left leaning”. I suggest you look into our area’s history with voting both Blue and Red before switching to Green.
She already HAS made differences, your denial of reality doesn’t change that fact.
Are you serious? Not left leaning? I mean if you think that then we can just disagree and move on. And yes lived in this riding all my life. Maybe she can bring out the “we already did” sign when she thought she saved the hospital almost 10 years ago.
Absolutely serious. And you said VERY left leaning, not just ‘left leaning’, which is a whole other range all together.
I digress.
Again, look at our history.
Or better yet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantramar_(electoral_district)
Megan has only been an MLA for 8 years.
Before her there was:
Liberal Bernard LeBlanc – 4 years.
Conservative Mike Olscamp – 8 years
Conservative Peter Mesheau – 9 years
Liberal Marilyn Trenholme-Counsell – 10 years
NDP Robert Hall – 5 years
Conservative Lloyd Folkins – 8 years
We’re CERTAINLY not a “VERY left leaning” – as you claimed – district. In reality if you look at the numbers? We’ve been Conservative – consecutively – than Liberal or Green or anything else. 17 years of PC representation vs. at most 10 of Liberal.
Seems that by average, local MLA’s last at most 7 years, then are replaced.
At this point, it could be Megan’s time as MLA might be close to being over, but who knows.
As for her “saving the hospital” – I’m pretty sure she would be the first to say it wasn’t her alone that “saved” it. But she certainly did NOT do SFA and not stand with the community to keep it going.
Noted. In this town, “rewriting history” apparently means mentioning anyone who isn’t a Green. The record is way messier than that, and most of us were here for it. The hospital fight had mayors, residents, a minority legislature, and a premier who blinked. Pretending one Green MLA was the only adult in the room is the rewrite.
On “healthcare”: Whatever was going on at the local – much loved, funded & boosted – hospital was also quite interesting insofar as it resulted in a new college for nurses going in there [from America] which is extremely interesting considering how much the locals don’t want a power plant [from America] but they have zero issue to a healthcare institute from America.. make it make sense to me? Susan Holt’s commentary about N.B. now ‘selling its healthcare education model’ to India so they can train and send healthcare professionals directly into our province ready to go is the most underreported story of the year in my opinion.. what would be the possible downside of this effort by Holt and why would nurses not be concerned for their job security in the province over it — have their unions muzzled them? Do tell locals in the know.
Oh you are SO wrong about locals having “zero issue to a healthcare institute from America”. While I’m sure there are those who loved the idea of it to some degree – since it brought in nursing students to the area with the hopes they might stay – there are others who did NOT approve of it, didn’t like it at all (considering the removal of nursing seats from already established schools out of UNB, UdM, and NBCC) and STILL don’t even though they’ve rebranded and are now overseen by a Canadian University out of Fredericton.
https://www.yorkvilleu.ca/blog/yorkville-university-to-acquire-beal-university-canada-strengthening-the-future-of-nursing-education-in-new-brunswick/
When it comes to that particular area of the hospital, mum tends to be the word; I don’t even know if anyone realized it WAS bought out and going under a rebrand.
My issue with it – and this is my PERSONAL opinion only – is that in giving up that part of the hospital, we have given up a chance to grow our hospital (that area used to be beds and a patient floor, something NB is in DESPERATE need of and we could have shifted it back to), to maintain practices more local to the hospital AND overall, we have lost VALUABLE space for things that concern the hospital itself.
I won’t deny there are some upsides to this as the nursing students can do some of their practical’s on site along with other hands on learning. That said, they could have gotten another building for it and left that section of the hospital alone. It was – and again my personal opinion – another decision made by people who know nothing about our hospital, who don’t live here nor care about the people who work here.