'We can't turn back now,' Higgs says, as he calls election

New Brunswickers will head to the polls on Oct. 21 to decide whether to give the Progressive Conservatives under Blaine Higgs another four-year term in government.

Higgs visited Government House on Thursday morning and spent a half hour with Lt.-Gov. Brenda Murphy, who signed the writs for a provincial election.

He portrayed the campaign as a choice between his sound fiscal management — including six straight years of budget surpluses — and a potential Liberal-Green "coalition" that might undo that progress.

"My entire foray in politics," he said, acknowledging he hadn't planned to stay in office this long, "is about we can't turn back now."

Higgs launched the campaign on the same day the Angus Reid Institute released a survey showing him with the lowest approval rating, 30 per cent, of any premier in Canada. 

"If people say 'you're done,' I'm done," Higgs told reporters. 

"It's because of that determination, that desire for a bigger, better, brighter future for our next generation — that's what keeps us going." 

The PC leader took office in 2018 with a minority government and won a majority two years later.

A victory on Oct. 21 would make him the first premier to win a third term since Liberal Frank McKenna in 1995. 

He's arguing that years of balanced budgets have freed up money for health care and other services, that would otherwise have needed to be spent on debt interest.

Liberal Leader Susan Holt launched her campaign in Bathurst, where she has served as an MLA since winning a byelection there last year.

She's running in Fredericton South-Silverwood this time.

At a stop in Miramichi, Holt countered Higgs's recent promise to reduce the provincial sales tax by two points by pledging to remove the tax from N.B. Power bills as soon as her government takes office.

That would save the average household $192 per year, Holt said.