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Mackenzie Thomason

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Mackenzie Thomason
Leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party
In office
September 14, 2021 – June 28, 2022
Preceded byChris Thompson (interim)
Succeeded byTBA
Interim
In office
March 24, 2019 – November 15, 2020
Preceded byJennifer McKenzie
Succeeded byNathan Davis
Personal details
Political partyNew Democratic

Mackenzie Thomason (born July 29, 1997) is a Canadian politician and former leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party.

Early life and family

Thomason grew up in Tracy, New Brunswick until the age of 11 when his family moved to Alberta. He returned to New Brunswick upon acceptance to the University of New Brunswick.[1]

Before becoming interim leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party, he worked for UPS and as a newspaper carrier in Fredericton.[2] He is currently a bus driver in Fredericton.[3]

Political career

Thomason first became involved with politics during the 2015 Alberta general election where Rachel Notley's Alberta New Democratic Party won a majority government. He later volunteered with the federal New Democratic Party during the 2015 Canadian federal election in the Fredericton area.

During the 2018 New Brunswick general election, Thomason ran in New Maryland—Sunbury. He was named interim leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party in March 2019. In 2019 federal election, he ran as the NDP candidate in Fredericton. Thomason led the New Brunswick NDP into the 2020 provincial election, he unsuccessfully ran in Fredericton North and the NDP did not win any seats in the legislature.[4]

Thomason had intended to only lead the party until a new leader was found. A leadership election that had been scheduled for August 2019 was postponed until June 2020 due to a lack of candidates and then was postponed again until April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] However, when Premier Blaine Higgs called a snap election for September 14, 2020, he led the party through the election campaign, saying beforehand that he was in "a little bit of panic" at the prospects of leading the party in an election campaign, saying, "It wasn't something I ever thought of when I first signed up for the job."[3] Thomason positioned the party further to the left than in previous campaigns, in order to distinguish the party from the Green Party and the Liberals.[5] He told CBC News: "I think it's really about making sure that we cement our values... A lot of this back and forth between centre and centre left, it's not working. It's not working for the party. It's not working for electoral chances. It's definitely not working for New Brunswickers."[5]

He participated in the televised leaders' debate on September 3, 2020, saying that the province may have to continue to run deficits in order to ensure people had access “to the services they pay for.”[6]

Thomason's campaign focussed on bringing in a $15/hour minimum wage, senior care, making prescription medicine affordable,[7] as well as reducing and eventually eliminating tuition for post-secondary education.[8]

In the 2020 New Brunswick general election, the NDP failed to win a seat, and received only 1.7% of the vote province-wide.[9][10] Thomason resigned as interim leader on November 15, 2020.[11]

Thomason reassumed the NDP leadership on September 14, 2021 when he was acclaimed as permanent leader.[12] He resigned eight months later, due to internal turmoil.[13]

Electoral record

2020 New Brunswick general election: Fredericton North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Jill Green 3,226 41.12 +12.89
Green Luke Randall 2,464 31.41 +14.42
Liberal Stephen Horsman 1,464 18.66 -12.95
People's Alliance Allen Price 591 7.53 -13.83
New Democratic Mackenzie Thomason 100 1.27 -0.53
Total valid votes 7,845 100.0
Total rejected ballots 42 0.53
Turnout 7,887 67.87
Eligible voters 11,620
Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal Swing -0.77


2019 Canadian federal election: Fredericton
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Green Jenica Atwin 16,640 33.68 +21.26 $55,541.51
Conservative Andrea Johnson 15,011 30.38 +1.96 $81,269.70
Liberal Matt DeCourcey 13,544 27.41 −21.85 $82,534.73
New Democratic Mackenzie Thomason 2,946 5.96 −3.93 $1,197.20
People's Jason Paull 776 1.57 New $1,322.69
Animal Protection Lesley Thomas 286 0.58 New $2,894.40
Libertarian Brandon Kirby 126 0.26 New $965.26
Communist Jacob Patterson 80 0.16 New $476.56
Total valid votes/expense limit 49,409 99.39   $101,795.92
Total rejected ballots 301 0.61 +0.20
Turnout 49,710 74.63 −1.10
Eligible voters 66,606
Green gain from Liberal Swing +9.65
Source: Elections Canada[14][15]
2018 New Brunswick general election: New Maryland-Sunbury
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Jeff Carr 3,844 41.2 +0.25
People's Alliance Morris Shannon 2,214 23.7 +23.7
Liberal Alex Scholten 2,210 23.7 -7.64
Green Jenica Atwin 902 9.7 +3.57
New Democratic Mackenzie Thomason 143 1.5 -20.08
KISS Danelle Titus 14 0.2 +0.2
Progressive Conservative hold Swing {{{3}}}
Source: Elections NB[16]

References

  1. ^ "Our Leader – NB NDP". Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  2. ^ Warnica, Richard (September 9, 2019). "In New Brunswick, being leader of the struggling NDP is a fourth job for 22-year-old". National Post. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "Interim NDP leader, 23, confesses to 'a little bit of panic' over possible fall election". CBC News. August 12, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  4. ^ Poitras, Jacques (August 12, 2020). "Interim NDP leader, 23, confesses to 'a little bit of panic' over possible fall election". CBC New Brunswick.
  5. ^ a b "NDP needs to solidify position as party of left, says interim party leader". CBC News. September 9, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  6. ^ "New Brunswick leaders' debate: NDP's Mackenzie Thomason says province may need to run deficit". Global News. September 3, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  7. ^ "NDP Feeling Optimistic Ahead of Election". Country 94. September 18, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  8. ^ "N.B. NDP Leader Says Economic Recovery Should Focus On Small Businesses". September 18, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  9. ^ "New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives win majority in pandemic vote". CBC News. September 18, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  10. ^ "Progressive Conservatives win majority in New Brunswick's pandemic election". CTV News. Canadian Press. September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  11. ^ "New interim leader resigns shortly after New Brunswick NDP election". CBC News. November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  12. ^ "Mackenzie Thomason Acclaimed as NB NDP Leader". NB NDP. November 15, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  13. ^ Hannah Rudderham (June 14, 2022). "New Brunswick NDP leader reluctantly resigns". CBC. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  14. ^ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  15. ^ "Final Election Expense Limits for Candidates: 43rd General Election - October 21, 2019". Elections Canada. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  16. ^ "Thirty-Ninth General Election, September 24, 2018" (PDF). Elections New Brunswick. February 22, 2019. p. 15. Retrieved October 27, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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