The Conservative Party of Canada has found its candidate in Saint John-Rothesay.
Former Saint John Mayor Mel Norton has earned the nomination and will challenge incumbent Liberal MP Wayne Long in the next election.
Despite his past in municipal politics, Norton says he isn’t coming into this job with the assumption he knows what his priorities should be.
“What I really hope to do is hear about those priorities from the community and the stakeholders in our community,” said Norton. “The approach that I have tried to follow in the past, and would hope to follow in the future, is meet with and understand what the community members see as opportunities and see as needs, and then to focus on those particular things.”
During the nomination process he spoke to Conservative party members that identified their top priorities as the economy, the national debt and the deficit.
“The membership that we spoke with really focused on some of the more traditional aspects of Saint John-Rothesay economy,” Norton said. “Obviously the Port of Saint John is something that many people pointed to. New technology is something that folks pointed to. And really, diversification of our economy generally.”
He says members feel there are economic opportunities available that have been ignored.
Should Norton succeed in knocking off Long, who has held the seat since 2015, he’ll head to Ottawa as a member of the Conservative caucus. But he says he’s not looking past the election. Instead, he says he’s keeping his focus on the community.
“Where my heart lies is here in this riding. Certainly I’m aware and have a sense of what’s happening at a national level and what happens in Ottawa,” he said. “But my focus has to be right here in this community. What is it we can do? What is it we can do together? What are the goals of this community? What are the opportunities in front of us that we haven’t realized?”
It’s still unclear when voters will next head to the polls, but with the Liberals forming a minority government a snap election could be called as soon as this winter.
