Interim NDP leader calls for Higgs's resignation as party tries to assert relevance

New Brunswick's NDP says it's still a relevant force in provincial politics, and the party tried to prove it Thursday by calling on Premier Blaine Higgs to resign.

Interim leader Mackenzie Thomason said Higgs should quit over his treatment of nursing home workers, the recently botched health reforms and uncertainty about the future of the education system.

Thomason acknowledged that a provincial election could be triggered this month if the Progressive Conservative budget is defeated but said Higgs should throw in the towel now.

"I'm calling on the premier to end the suspense, admit his and his caucus's failings and shortcomings, and do the right thing and resign before the non-confidence vote," he said.

Thomason spent most of the news conference responding to questions not about his challenge to the premier but about the party's relevance.

"I don't believe that tomorrow he's going to come out and resign because of this, but I think it should definitely give him pause for concern," he said.

A New Democrat hasn't been elected to the legislature since the 2003 election, and the party won just five percent of the vote in the 2018 campaign.

The last two leaders were acclaimed, and the current leadership selection process was postponed last year after the lone person interested, Joyce Richardson, failed to pass an internal vetting process.

"Just because we had one bad election cycle, I don't think that's indicative of a future trend," Thomason said.

The party now faces the possibility of a snap election without a permanent leader if the PC budget is defeated March 20.

Thomason said three people have expressed an interest in the leadership, which is to be decided at a convention in June.

But those potential candidates haven't gone through a vetting process yet, and Thomason would not release their names.

He said a field of three leadership candidates is "an absolutely amazing number" considering the last two leaders were acclaimed.

In the event of a snap election, he said he'll confer with the party executive about taking the NDP into the campaign as interim leader and running in a Fredericton-area riding.

'Sound' finances

He also said the party is working on how many candidates it will have to run in the province's 49 constituencies if the election is called.

And in case a general election doesn't happen, the party is talking to potential candidates for twobyelections that must be called soon in the vacant ridings of Saint Croix and Shediac Bay-Dieppe.

"We are in a sound financial position," he said. We have an amazing outreach team going to work."