Tight race, big base: A look at Oromocto-Lincoln-Fredericton

What do a military base, a Maliseet First Nation, the provincialcapital and unincorporated rural communities have in common?

They're all part of the fabric of Oromocto-Lincoln-Fredericton,a riding that encompasses gorgeous views of the St. John and Oromocto Rivers, a sprawling PMQ patch for military housing, residential suburbs and the rolling fields and forests around the Fredericton International Airport.

Many of the approximately 11,434 voters in the riding have ties to the5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown.

The base, which is located in the town of Oromocto, isthe largest military facility in eastern Canada with about7,500 military and civilian workers.

The riding also includes about 300 members of theOromocto First Nation, located on the eastern limits of town andthe small community of Lincoln, which has apopulation of more than2,500. The riding also consists ofa significant portion of the city of Fredericton.

Running for the two leading parties: Realtor Mary Wilson for the Progressive ConservativesandJohn Fife, aretired army colonelfor the Liberals.

The People's Alliance is fieldingCraig Rector, a retired RCMP officer and heavy equipment operator. Meanwhile,the Green Party is fielding retired software developer Tom McLean.

A fifth candidate freelance graphic designer Justin Young, running for the New Democrats could not be reached for comment.

No matter who voters elect on Sept. 24,it's going to be a change. In January, outgoing PC MLA Jody Carr, announced his plan to leave politics and pursue a career in law. He entered politics back in 1999 at the age of 23.

Now, he and his brother, New Maryland-Sunbury West MLA JeffCarr, are helping to steer the campaign of Tory candidate Mary E. Wilson.

Wilson grew up in Oromocto in a military family, and has worked as a realtor and district manager with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business a role in which she had "more than12,000 meetings one-on-one with locally-owned, independent small business owners."

She received the Tory nomination in May in the stead of former MP and MLA Keith Ashfield, who died unexpectedly in April, one month after announcing his intention to run in the riding.

Wilson said she greatly admired Ashfield and shares his commitment to working on behalf of small businesses.

"I know what small business owners need to survive, to start a business, to hire employees, maintain employees," Wilson said.

"What they don't need is government sticking their face in their business."

Wilson said PC Leader Blaine Higgs' commitment to start reducing the non-residential provincial property tax rate will benefit military families, "who get posted in and posted out, and if they don't sell their home before they go, all of a sudden their property taxdoubles."

"They just can't absorb it."

She hopes voters will "look at the issues that both [leading] parties are putting on the table."

"Are we concerned about the debt that we have in this province I believe over $14 billion, with $700 million a year in interest alone? This party has made it clear we are not going to have any new taxes in this province.

"We have enough revenue to run this province, it's just not being allocated properly."

Former senior commander

Despite entrenched PC support in the riding, Wilson will face tough competition from Liberal candidate John Fife.

Fife, 54, is well-known in Oromocto as a 27-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who commanded New Brunswick's only Regular Force Infantry Battalion (2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment.) As an infantry officer, he served in the United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Bosnia, West Africa, includingSierra Leone.

Following his retirement from the military in 2015, he was recruitedby the province of New Brunswick to develop a provincial strategy on emergency preparedness and resiliency.

Planning, Fife said, is "the skill set that I bring to the table."

"[In the military] I was developing plans that would be implemented over 10, 20, 25 years and long-term planning is what is absolutely essential if we want to move our province forward."

Fife said military families, face unique hurdles in the community.

"One of the big challenges for military families posted to Base Gagetown is finding a family doctor," he said. "Often they're only here for three years, and during that three year timeframe it can take three or four years to get a doctor.'"

Other challenges like spousal employment and childcare also affect civilian families and families on Oromocto First Nation.

"The issues aren't really that different," he said. "I respect that some people won't support me and I have no issues with that," he said. "If I'm successful, I'll represent all 11,000 people in this riding to the best of my capabilities."

His decision to run he said, is a continuation of the first phase of his career that focused on "service to my country."

"To me, this is a different type of service service to New Brunswick, and service to the riding of Oromocto-Lincoln-Fredericton."

Plan for climate change response

Green Party candidate Tom McLean is the first to admit that funding and resources have been an issue for his campaign but he hopes voters can look beyond that.

"My biggest passion is that we need to take action on climate change," said McLean, who joined the party five years ago after a career in software development.

"In the context of climate change action, it is scary how big the crisis is. And it's more scary how little action we've taken up until now."

A greener economy, McLean said, would harness an untapped potential for job creation in the province.

While he hasn't been able to mount as extensive a campaign as his opponents McLeanwanted to make sure that everyone across New Brunswick had a chance to vote Green.

"I would support and champion as much as we can the regulation of carbon emissions and the promotion of a green economy," he said.

Ending language duality

Craig Rector grew up in Oromocto and worked for 25 years with the Regina Police Service before retiring from policing in 2009. He and his family moved back home to Geary in 2012.

Rector decided to run for the People's Alliance Party, he said, at the suggestion of a friend and because he appreciated Leader Kris Austin's "common-sense approach to finances."

"You can't be spending more money than you're bringing in you have to manage your money appropriately," Rector said.

"The People's Alliance is dealing with those kinds of issues, saying we have to get financially responsiblehealthcare and other issues are all based on dollars."

Rector was also drawn to the party's pledge to eliminate language duality in government services.

While he is "100 per cent in belief of bilingualism," he said, "when you start looking at all the other issues that have clouded it people not being able to get employment, ambulances not being staffed, that starts impacting people's safety. There has to be a more commonsense approach to it."

The outcome on Sept. 24, he said, will come down to "whether the people in our constituency are willing to continue with the same style of votingversus embracing the opportunity for a change."

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