After an exciting few days of ups and downs, polls have closed and we have the results of the qualifying round. It was a fairly dynamic thing to watch, almost like an election night.
As polls opened, there was virtual three-way tie for first place in the high teens between the three men that led the province from 1960 to 1997. Hatfield was steadily in third at 17% while Robichaud and McKenna traded for the lead and tied occassionally with 18-19%. At the same time, a surprise candidate, John B. McNair, who barely missed the cut to be in my top 8, held a distant fourth place.
After the first day, Robichaud opened up a huge lead, at one point hitting 33%, mostly at Hatfield's expense and Hugh John Flemming made a huge comeback pulling into and holding fourth for much of the rest of the vote. McNair began a steady decline that ended with him being looped in with the "also rans" tied with three others for seventh place at 3%.
I am shocked that the only candidate to get no votes is none other than John Hamilton Gray, the man who led the "Rummy Party" to power and repealed the Prohibition Bill before it was able to take effect. His crushing defeat will hurt New Brunswick's reputation as a province that favours large consumption of booze!
I am also suprised to see A. G. Blair, the founder of the Liberal Party and our second longest serving premier stuck at 1% and tied with 8 others for 11th (second to last) place.
So, as per the rules, the top six move on, they are the ones in bold in the results list below. I am also going to add in my archnemesis Bernard Lord in order to assure people that I am not biased and am not excluding him for unfair reasons.
The poll will be done by preferential ballot and will open Sunday or Monday and close probably by Thursday. Anyone who wishes to do up a post or site in favour or against one of the candidate's please let me know (in the comments or by email to nbpolitico@gmail.com) and as long as it is clean and honest, I will give you a link (first come first serve).
So our candidates are Bernard Lord and the top six that follow.
Results (301 votes cast)
1. Robichaud 26%
2. McKenna 20%
3. Hatfield 14%
4. Tilley 10%
5. H. J. Flemming 7%
6. Fisher 4%
7. Emmerson 3%
7. Baxter 3%
7. Dysart 3%
7. McNair 3%
11. Smith 1%
11. Mitchell 1%
11. King 1%
11. Fraser 1%
11. Blair 1%
11. Tweedie 1%
11. Hazen 1%
11. J. K. Flemming 1%
11. Foster 1%
20. Gray 0%
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Nice variety on that list. Lord flamed out too much after his first term to be considered a legitimate best Premier. I'd say McKenna or Robichaud will take it.
And even his first term wasn't that great. For all the hype that people put around auto insurance it was at best a secondary issue or at worst a catalyst for his near defeat in 2003. It was blown up by the national media as a means to explain how their wonder boy could have fallen.
Wonder boy must be wondering these days as to what he did to NB - screw up - in the process of promoting himself.
Robichaud is an easy choice for greatest Premier in my opinion. Equal Opportunity and billingualism revolutionized this province.
McKenna was decent but mostly (as another poster said) a good manager, not someone who fundamentally changed the direction of this province. Hatfield was good too but basically just continued and built on the reforms of Louis Robichaud.
Post a Comment