Movement to oust Blaine Higgs: Dissident PC members fail to trigger leadership review

Dissident members of New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative party have failed to trigger a leadership review for Blaine Higgs.

Andrea Johnson, the party’s executive director, says the members did not meet the criteria to force a vote on whether the premier should step down as leader of the New Brunswick Tories.

Party rules say at least 50 members of the party — including 26 ridings presidents — must request a review.

The deadline to collect the signatures was extended from Aug. 19 to Aug. 26, and it is still unclear how many members took part in the movement to oust Higgs.

Divisions in the party came to the surface after the Higgs government changed the province’s policy on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

Higgs’s office did not immediately return a request for comment today.

2:17
New Brunswick premier facing growing caucus revolt as 2nd cabinet member quits

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2023.