The president of New Brunswick's Progressive Conservative party says Bernard Lord should stay on as Opposition leader and hold the new Liberal government to account for their promises.
Lester Young says the Tories ran a good campaign leading up to the election Monday night, and Lord could become premier again in four years
"Certainly we will be analyzing everything to see exactly what went wrong," Young said. "But there's one thing that I can say. We have led a very, very positive campaign, and it's the people of New Brunswick that decided the outcome that we had."
Tory Leader Bernard Lord addressed a disappointed gathering of party faithful Monday night, thanking them for their hard work during the four-week campaign and saying he accepts the defeat voters have handed him.
Lord, who easily won his own riding of Moncton East, will lead an Opposition caucus of 26 MLAs, having lost two seats in Monday night's vote.
The Tories had a slightly greater share of the popular vote, but the Liberals won the battle for seats, with 29.
The election left NDP Leader Allison Brewer's future up in the air. She lost the fight to win her home district of Fredericton-Lincoln, and failed to convince New Brunswick voters to elect a single New Democrat to the legislature.
In a remarkably gracious concession speech Monday night, Lord congratulated Liberal Leader Shawn Graham for a well-run campaign and promised to co-operate fully during the transition of power.
Lord also wished Brewer well in rebuilding the NDP. Lord and several prominent Tories partially attributed their defeat on New Brunswick's new district boundaries, which appeared to favour the Liberals.
"I was hoping, I was willing, I had the energy to go four more years," Lord told the crowd. "We had more votes this time but got fewer seats. The people have had the final say."
Hopes Lord will stay on
Progressive Conservative Trevor Holder hung onto his seat in Saint John-Portland, and managed to increase his margin of victory.
He said Lord will make an excellent Opposition leader, and hopes he'll stay on to lead the party.
"I don't think that Bernard Lord's days have come and gone. I think that this guy could write his own ticket in terms of what he wanted to do from this point onward. He's bright. He's articulate. He's disciplined."
Lord, 40, has not said what he'll do next, and told reporters on election night that he'll make up his mind after he speaks with his family and his 26-member caucus.
"I'm going to invite them all to come down and have a chat, and I'll hear what they want me to do and what they have to stay, and I'll certainly have some discussions with my own family," he said. "But I can certainly see myself serving the people of Moncton East, maybe even for four years. You know, they've given me a good mandate."
Lord called the election 3½ years into his second term when it appeared his fragile, one-seat majority would dissolve with the resignation of Tory MLA Peter Mesheau.
The Tories campaigned on promises of lower personal income tax cuts in gasoline taxes, protection of seniors' assets when they enter nursing homes, and tax credits for health and fitness as well as cultural activities.
Lord made unpopular decisions during his seven years in office, closing and downgrading rural hospitals and failing to effectively deal with soaring car insurance costs.
Lord gets emotional
During his concession speech, Lord appeared at times relieved that his party did not win enough seats to form the government, and happy that he would have more time to spend with his family.
When he began thanking his wife, Diane Haché, for her support through the campaign, he became emotional and could not speak for several moments. He embraced her, and then told a story about watching the election results with his two children, Sébastien and Jasmine.
"My two children have a wonderful way of making the best of any situation," he said, describing how they began jumping up and down on the hotel-room couch when they realized Lord was going to lose his job as premier. "They said, 'Daddy, we're going to spend more time with you now.'"
The four-week campaign lacked a defining issue, and instead focused mostly on the leadership qualities of the two front-runners.
Graham had been seen as ineffective and awkward prior to the campaign, but managed to change that image during debates and interviews by speaking well and landing punches on his Tory opponents in areas including the high cost of car insurance, gas regulation and problems at NB Power.
Lord first swept into government in 1999, winning all but 11 of 55 seats across the province, handing a stunning defeat to the three-term Liberals. He won again in 2003, with a much smaller one-seat majority, after his attempts to deal with the problem of soaring car insurance rates failed to resonate with New Brunswick voters.
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| Party | Elected | Leading | Total | Vote Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIB | 29 | 0 | 29 | 47.10% |
| PC | 26 | 0 | 26 | 47.50% |
| NDP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.10% |
| OTH | 0 | 0 | 0 | .20% |
| Last Update:September 19, 1:13:13 AM ADT | ||||