Political parties in New Brunswick are leaping into campaign mode days before the official start of the provincial election period.
Premier Brian Gallant, leader of the governing Liberals, launched his campaign on Sunday, saying his party is running on the themes of fairness and opportunity in its bid for re-election in the fall.
In a release issued by the party, Gallant said his government has created thousands of jobs and lowered the province’s gender wage gap.
“The campaign will be a great opportunity to discuss the actions we have taken and the actions we will take to create jobs and grow the economy for all New Brunswickers,” Gallant said in the release.
The province’s Green party will get ahead of the writ as well, with leader David Coon saying he plans to launch his campaign on Tuesday.
“I am excited to launch this campaign to show New Brunswickers that Greens have real, credible, sustainable solutions to the challenges we face,” Coon said in an e-mail statement.
“We have everything we need right here, at home, to build the kind of province – the kind of future – we want for our children and grandchildren.”
The Progressive Conservative Party was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.
Elections New Brunswick said in an e-mail that there is nothing preventing any of the parties from campaigning before the writs are issued on Thursday, officially starting the campaign.
But spokesman Paul Harpelle said there are certain pre-writ regulations the parties must observe.
According to the agency’s Provincial Political Financing Manual, pre-writ advertising is considered to be a non-election expense.
There are both pre-election and election spending limits in place: each party can spend up to $200,000 in non-election expenses for advertising. This year’s election spending limit is estimated to be around $40,000.
Early polls suggest the race may be too close to call, although Gallant’s main opponent appears to be Blaine Higgs, who became head of the Progressive Conservative Party in October 2016.
The province’s finances are becoming the dominant issue early in the run-up to the campaign.
Since taking power in 2014, Gallant has become known as a big spender, vowing to shell out record amounts in health care and education, and an extra $150-million per year for six years on infrastructure.
Kim MacPherson, the province’s auditor general, warned in June that Liberal spending has come at a cost – with the province running its 11th consecutive deficit and a net debt on track to hit $14.4-billion by the end of March 2019.
The government announced in January it would delay a return to balanced budgets until 2021-2022.
The current makeup of the legislature has the Liberals with 24 seats, the Progressive Conservatives with 21, the Greens with one, former Liberal speaker Chris Collins sitting as an independent, and two vacancies.
Voters in New Brunswick are expected to head to the polls on Sept. 24.