PC leadership race in New Brunswick turns testy as party divisions re

PC leadership race in New Brunswick turns testy as party divisions re-emerge

Allain faces online attacks, slams Monahan for tokens-for-votes tactic

Progressive Conservatives in New Brunswick are facing an increasingly fractious leadership race this summer that threatens their ability to unite in time for the next provincial election.

Some party members are using social media to attack candidate Daniel Allain, a former PC cabinet minister, for what they call a betrayal of party unity in 2023.

Allain, meanwhile, is continuing to question the integrity of his opponent, rookie MLA Don Monahan, over what Allain calls a vote-buying scheme — even after the party and Elections New Brunswick said it broke no rules.

The tensions are playing out largely online, but they came briefly into view in a pair of debates last week.

“This party doesn't need a token leader, it needs a real leader,” Allain said in Saint John, a nod to Monahan offering $50 worth of tokens at his campground business to campers who paid $50 to register to vote in the race.

Tone turns testy in PC leadership race

In Saint-Léonard, Monahan accused Allain of using a ministerial consultation tour in 2021 “to get ready to become the next premier of the province.”

That echoed the belief among some PC members that Allain was plotting to replace Blaine Higgs when he was part of a caucus revolt in 2023.

Allain says the online rhetoric has gone too far.

“I think New Brunswickers expect that politicians, and politics in general be about ideas, not about personal insults. And that has to stop.”

Jason Purdy, a party member who has been posting prolifically about Allain on social media, referred to him as a “Liberal Lite, urban French activist” in a recent Facebook post.

“I’ve never personally attacked anybody,” Purdy told CBC News. “I’m asking them to be accountable for the decisions that they're making as an elected official.”

He defended his posts, saying they gave party members a chance to reflect on Allain and five other PC MLAs who supported a Liberal motion in June 2023 about a Higgs government policy on pronouns and gender identity in schools.

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“That’s what split the party in two,” said Purdy, who lives in Noonan, just east of Fredericton. “That’s what made the divide. And as members we’ve never had the opportunity to have that discussion.

“It’s not Don that’s creating the division. It’s not me creating the division. It’s pent-up anger over three years, and now it’s just coming to the forefront.”

In Purdy’s view, there are two factions in the party: rural anglophone Conservatives, who are further to the right, and urban “Red” Conservatives, who are in the centre.

He said Allain’s 2023 vote makes it impossible for him to win over those on the right, but Monahan can win over both.

Several PC MLAs who supported Higgs in that 2023 policy vote are supporting Allain, however.

Political scientist Jamie Gillies of St. Thomas University says the divisions apparent in this leadership race are common in conservative parties across Canada as moderates and populists confront each other.

“It is leading to these more animosity-filled leadership contests. Even [Alberta Premier] Danielle Smith’s party is this coalition that is fractious, and they have to find ways to bring themselves together.”

Monahan said there’s little he can do to stop the attacks on Allain.

“The other candidate has a longer political history than myself,” he said. “People know him, and perhaps know more of his past, and perhaps they’re voicing more of their opinions and their commentary about it.

“I don’t condone it, but I don’t control the entire population of New Brunswick as well.”

He said he did ask one supporter to stop levelling online attacks, “and in the end, they didn’t want to listen anyway.”

Meanwhile, Allain has kept up his criticism of Monahan’s tokens-for-votes system.

Visitors to a July 17-18 country music festival at Monahan’s Sussex campground were offered $50 in tokens to use at the campground, plus a car pass worth $35 for the adjacent drive-in movie theatre, if they registered to vote in the leadership race.

Corporate donations are banned in New Brunswick, but Monahan said the tokens were paid for by his campaign, not his campground company.

Elections New Brunswick and the PC party said the system broke no rules, which Allain said he disagreed with.

“This situation is unacceptable,” Allain said in a social media post on Friday. “I will never buy someone’s vote.”

He invited anyone who agreed with him to register and vote for him.

PC leadership candidate defends tokens-for-votes system

Allain’s campaign is leaning heavily on the argument that he can rebuild the PC party in francophone areas that were unwilling to support former premier Blaine Higgs because of his perceived disinterest in their language rights.

“Every riding we give up is a riding we hand to Susan Holt for free,” Allain said in Saint John.

He said in Saint-Léonard that “a riding you've never worked is a riding you've already lost.”

Despite the tensions, Monahan said in Saint John that when the race is over, “there will not be two different teams. There'll be one Progressive Conservative team.”

But Purdy said he won’t be able to support the party if Allain is chosen leader and said some more right-leaning members may even start a new party if that happens.

Gillies said whoever becomes leader after party members vote in October will have their work cut out for them.

“They still have those divisions that clearly have not been dealt with,” he said.

“How they negotiate the schism between the traditional moderate PC base, some of whom may be backing Allain, and this more upstart populist group who have been activated by Blain Higgs and who may be backing Monahan, is something the party has to sort out before the next election.”

Jacques Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.