The Higgs Polimetre team extracted the 174 promises from the Progressive Conservative Party platform during the 2018 provincial elections with the objective of tracking their progress. In order to arrive at this figure, the team more specifically analyzed: (i) the platform (“Real experience. Real results.”); (ii) the numbered election commitments submitted to Elections NB; and (iii) the press releases issued by the party during the campaign. You can access the Progressive Conservative Party platform by clicking here.
The Polimetre Higgs is the first Polimetre that compiles electoral promises outside Quebec. In Quebec, the Polimetre Legault follows the Polimetres Marois and Couillard, while in Canada, the Polimetre Trudeau succeeds the Harper Polimetre.
You will find the results of the elections held on September 24th, 2018 in New Brunswick at the end of this presentation on the Polimetre Higgs.
Each promise is labelled as “not yet rated”, “kept in part or in the works”, “broken” or “kept”. Each verdict is supported by one or more quotes from government press releases, laws and other official or journalistic sources.
The box above provides an updated account of the degree to which the promises have been fulfilled. Click on any of the verdicts to access the promises that share this verdict at a specific time. Click on the promise to access the quotation which supports of our verdict. By clicking on “source”, you access the document or official page from which the quotation was selected. Click here to learn more about the methodology behind the verdicts.
The Polimetre is updated periodically by a team of researchers, assistants and interns from the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CAPP) at Université Laval and the École des hautes études publiques at Université de Moncton, which is responsible for monitoring the various websites which provide information on the evolution of the status of a promise (government-run websites, departments, the Legislative Assembly, the media and other organizations). The team members are politically independent. The project is funded by grants from the Secrétariat du Québec aux relations canadiennes, the Center for Public Policy Analysis and the Donald J. Savoie Institute.
We welcome your questions and comments. If you find a quote that is no longer up to date or a verdict that you feel is incorrect, feel free to let us know by email at polimetre@capp.ulaval.ca and include the exact wording of the promise.
—The team of the Center for Public Policy Analysis at Université Laval and the École des hautes études publiques at Université de Moncton
Election results
On September 24, 2018, New Brunswick voters elected a minority government for the first time in nearly 100 years (Elections New Brunswick, 2019).
Initially, the outgoing Liberal government tried to retain power by forming a minority government; but it fell after a vote of non-confidence. On November 9, 2018, Blaine Higgs became the 34th Premier of New Brunswick.
During these elections, 381,777 voters voted while 566,922 voters were registered, resulting in an electoral turnout of 67.3%.
The information used to construct these graphs and tables and the information presented at the beginning of the summary are sourced from the Elections New Brunswick website, accessed on May 13, 2018, at https://www.electionsnb.ca/content/dam/enb/pdf/2018ProvRpt.pdf. A total of 1,414 ballots were rejected (0.4%).
