New Brunswick's 60th legislature was dissolved on September 19, 2024, and voters went to the polls on October 21 after a 32-day campaign. Premier Blaine Higgs and the Progressive Conservatives were seeking a third consecutive term, having first won a minority in 2018 and then a majority in 2020. Turnout was approximately 66%, with roughly 376,000 ballots cast.

The campaign was defined by deep frustration with health-care delivery, the Higgs government's controversial changes to Policy 713 on gender identity in schools, and a cost-of-living crisis that had seen New Brunswick housing prices nearly double since 2019.

Results

The Liberals won a decisive majority with 31 of 49 seats and 48.2% of the popular vote, a gain of 14 seats from their 2020 result of 17. The PCs were reduced to 16 seats with roughly 35% of the vote, losing 11. The Green Party dropped from three seats to two, capturing about 13.8% of the vote. The People's Alliance, which had held two seats, was shut out entirely, collapsing to 0.9% of the popular vote.

The Liberals swept all francophone ridings in northern New Brunswick and broke through massively in anglophone urban centres, with the Liberal vote growing 27% in Saint John, 23% in Fredericton, and 16% in Moncton compared to 2020. The Liberals flipped traditionally safe PC ridings in the Saint John region, including Quispamsis and Rothesay. All 16 remaining PC seats were in anglophone ridings, mostly rural southern New Brunswick.

Party Leaders

Susan Holt (Liberal) led her party to a landslide and became New Brunswick's first woman premier. Born April 22, 1977, in Fredericton, Holt earned dual degrees in chemistry and economics from Queen's University and built a career in business leadership. She served as CEO of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce and later as president and CEO of the New Brunswick Business Council, representing the province's 26 largest employers. She won the Liberal leadership on August 6, 2022, on the third ballot, and entered the legislature through a by-election in Bathurst East—Nepisiguit—Saint-Isidore in April 2023. For the general election she ran in the newly created riding of Fredericton South-Silverwood and won. Holt campaigned on over 100 policy promises, anchored by 30 collaborative care clinics within three years and a 3% rent cap.

Blaine Higgs (PC) became the first sitting New Brunswick premier to lose his own seat since Richard Hatfield in 1987. Born March 1, 1954, in Woodstock, Higgs grew up in the border community of Forest City, earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of New Brunswick, and spent 33 years at Irving Oil, rising to director of logistics and distribution. He entered politics in 2010, served as finance minister under Premier David Alward, and won the PC leadership in October 2016. After governing as minority premier from 2018 and winning a majority in 2020, Higgs lost Quispamsis to Liberal Aaron Kennedy by approximately 193 votes and stepped down as PC leader.

David Coon (Green) held his seat in the reconfigured riding of Fredericton-Lincoln with 44.5% of the vote, continuing to serve as the province's longest-tenured Green MLA. Born October 28, 1956, in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Coon studied ecology at McGill University and spent nearly three decades with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, eventually serving as executive director. His work on drinking-water protection led to the creation of New Brunswick's Clean Water Act. He became Green leader in 2012 and won the party's first-ever provincial seat in 2014. In 2024, deputy leader Megan Mitton held the party's second seat in Tantramar with 48.9%, but the Greens lost Kent North when Kevin Arseneau was defeated by Liberal Pat Finnigan.

Campaign Issues

Health care was the dominant issue. New Brunswick hospitals faced overcrowding, excessive wait times, and staff burnout, particularly in rural areas. The Liberals' signature pledge of 30 new community care clinics resonated with voters desperate for improved primary health-care access.

Policy 713 proved devastating for the PCs. In 2023, Higgs had amended the policy to require parental notification before students under 16 could change their preferred name or pronouns at school. The change triggered defections from the PC caucus, protests across the province, and fierce opposition from Holt and Coon. After winning, the Holt government reversed the requirement in December 2024.

Housing affordability weighed heavily on voters. New Brunswick had experienced the largest percentage increase in housing prices of any Canadian province since 2019, and Holt's promise of a 3% rent cap directly addressed the crisis. Bilingualism, a perennial undercurrent in Canada's only officially bilingual province, also shaped the contest, with Higgs's association with the former Confederation of Regions Party remaining a liability among francophone voters.

Notable Outcomes

Susan Holt's election as New Brunswick's first woman premier was the most significant outcome. A record 17 women were elected to the 49-seat legislature.

The People's Alliance effectively ceased to exist as an electoral force. After founder Kris Austin crossed the floor to join the PCs in March 2022, followed by the party's only other MLA, the Alliance had to rebuild from scratch under new leadership. It ran just 13 candidates and won less than 1% of the vote. Austin himself won Fredericton-Grand Lake as a PC candidate. The party was voluntarily deregistered in June 2025.

Higgs's loss in Quispamsis — a riding he had held since 2010 — was only the second time in modern New Brunswick history that a sitting premier lost their own seat, matching Richard Hatfield's defeat in the 1987 Liberal sweep under Frank McKenna.