N.B. election comes down to close ridings

The fate of New Brunswick's next government may come down to a handful of ridings across the province that feature tight races.

Liberal Leader Shawn Graham and Progressive Conservative Leader David Alward crisscrossed the province on the weekend, attempting to shore up wavering ridings and solidifying seats that were leaning in their favour.

The campaign, which is the first under the province's fixed election date law, started a month ago with the Liberals holding a commanding lead inside the legislature. But on the hustings, the Liberals were facing an uphill fight in many key ridings.

The Liberals held 32 ridings when the legislature was dissolved, the Tories had 22 MLAs and there were two vacancies.

Suburban battlegrounds

Graham's Liberals dominated the seats in Fredericton and Saint John in the 2006 election campaign and they will need to hold onto those ridings if they hope to remain in power.

Along with the urban ridings in Fredericton and Saint John, the Liberals are facing tough battles in several suburban ridings around Saint John where senior cabinet ministers are staring down serious challenges.

Quispamsis has provided significant electoral drama in recent years.

Former PC cabinet minister Brenda Fowlie won the riding in 2003 by fewer than 20 votes before losing to Liberal Mary Schryer in 2006.

Schryer quickly rose through the cabinet ranks in the Graham government, moving from a junior minister to health minister.

The Tories are running Blaine Higgs, a retired engineer, in the riding and it quickly became a highly targeted seat.

Alward made several appearances in the riding and the Tories plan to hold their final rally of the campaign in the riding to give Higgs a boost before voting begins on Monday.

Fundy-River Valley

Liberal Jack Keir is one of several cabinet ministers staring at an uphill battle for re-election and he is in another battleground riding in suburban Saint John.

As energy minister, Keir became the face of the Liberal government's botched attempt to sell NB Power in 2009 and 2010. Keir's southern New Brunswick riding includes two major power plants, the Coleson Cove Generating Station and the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station.

The Tories are fielding a former heart surgeon, Dr. Jim Parrott, against Keir.

Fundy-River Valley is a longtime Tory stronghold. When Keir won it in 2003, it was the first time since 1995 that a Liberal has represented the riding, which includes Grand Bay-Westfield.

Even as a high-profile candidate in 2006, Keir was only able to escape with a victory of roughly 200 votes.

Both Graham and Alward made several campaign stops in the area in the hope of boosting the chances for their candidates.

Fredericton-Fort Nashwaak

The Liberals swept the four Fredericton ridings in 2006 and they are now trying to hold them in the face of stiff challenges in each riding

Liberal Kelly Lamrock quickly became one of Graham's most controversial cabinet ministers and he is now in a tight battle with Tory Pam Lynch.

Lamrock faced a barrage of criticism when he attempted to scrap early French immersion in spring 2008 and he eventually was forced to backtrack when a group of parents successfully challenged the decision in court.

Lamrock also made a controversial decision to speak out against the NB Power deal in January.

That high profile could cut both ways in Lamrock's re-election bid.

The race between Lynch and Lamrock had a very testy campaign fight.

Lamrock accused Lynch of putting up signs in front of a park where Lamrock's young daughter played that were personally attacking him over his French immersion decision.

NDP leader seeks riding

New Democratic Party Leader Roger Duguay is vying to win the party's first seat inside the legislature since former leader Elizabeth Weir resigned in 2004.

While other party leaders spent time on election buses visiting other ridings, Duguay spent the majority of the campaign in the northeast riding of Tracadie-Sheila.

Duguay's main competition is incumbent Tory MLA Claude Landry, who won the riding for the first time in 2006. The NDP leader ran in the 2006 campaign, coming a close third in the riding of Miramichi-Bay Neguac.

He also ran in the riding of Centre-Peninsule in 1999 and in Caraquet in 1991.

Tracadie-Sheila is in the northeast corner of the province on the Acadian peninsula.

Bathurst

For the third straight election, Bathurst voters have a choice between Liberal Brian Kenny and Progressive Conservative Nancy McKay.

Although Bathurst has been a bedrock Liberal seat for decades, McKay has given Kenny a strong challenge in the previous two elections.

Holding Bathurst is a key for the Liberals, who are trying to cling to power in the 2010 election.

Kenny was able to win the riding for the first time in 2003 by fewer than 100 votes and again in 2006 by a slightly larger margin of victory.

Kenny has served in Graham's cabinet and is hoping that higher profile will translate into another victory.

Meanwhile, a Tory win in the northern riding could serve as a harbinger for other ridings across the province.

Petitcodiac

The rural riding of Petitcodiac is also shaping up to be an interesting race because it pits Liberal Wally Stiles, who was elected three times in the riding as a Progressive Conservative but crossed the floor to the Liberals in 2007, against Tory Sherry Wilson.

Wilson is a business owner and a town councillor in the nearby town of Riverview. She came under fire last week when a colleague on Riverview council called for her resignation because of the confusion over where she lives.

The Municipalities Act demands that town councillors live in the community that they represent. Wilson declined to resign her position as a town councillor and said she was staying with a friend in Riverview but commuting to the Petitcodiac riding to campaign.

Stiles was elected by large margins in each of his earlier campaigns so the Liberal cabinet minister is hoping to capitalize on some of that political cachet.

Charlotte-Campobello

The southwestern riding of Charlotte-Campobello is one of a handful of ridings that could turn into four-way races.

Charlotte-Campobello has voted for the Progressive Conservatives for the last three elections but the incumbent MLA is retiring and that has created an opportunity for the other parties.

Liberal Annabelle Juneau and Tory Curtis Malloch are trying to win the seat for one of the traditional parties.

But the Liberals and Tories cannot underestimate the challenges being launched by two smaller parties.

The People's Alliance is running John Craig, the mayor of St. Andrews, and he is considered one of the upstart party's strongest candidates. Craig ran and lost his bid for the Tory nomination in the riding before joining the People's Alliance.

The Green Party is fielding Janice Harvey, a well-known environmental activist in the region.