Higgs election call would ignore fixed-date law for the 2nd time

In 2018, as the Liberals went down to defeat in a confidence vote and the lieutenant-governor invited the Progressive Conservatives to form a government, leader Blaine Higgs was asked how long he wanted his mandate to last.

"Four years," he told reporters without hesitation. "We're going for the gold."

Instead, Higgs cut short his term with a snap election call less than two years later — claiming he had no choice. 

"My goal is to ensure we have stability," he explained in August 2020.

Now Higgs has opened the door to triggering another snap election.

He's already the first premier to ignore New Brunswick's fixed-date election law, which dates back to 2007. Now he may also become the first to do it twice.

To be clear, the fixed-date section of the law is not binding.

It schedules each election for the third Monday in October, four years after the last one — currently Oct. 21, 2024.

But the law also says that formula does not affect the discretion of the lieutenant-governor to dissolve the legislature early. 

And the lieutenant-governor exercises that discretion at the request of the premier. She or he has little choice but to grant a dissolution when a premier asks for one.

Higgs is suggesting that he may be forced to ask for one — just as he argued he was being forced into doing so in 2020. 

Back then, he had a minority government and was in the early phase of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also facing a legal requirement to call three by-elections.

So he asked all three opposition parties to promise not to defeat his government on confidence and supply votes, such as the budget.

In return, the premier — whose approval ratings were at record highs at the time — would promise not to call an election until the scheduled date of 2022.