A bittersweet victory for the Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Kings Centre.
While Bill Oliver was re-elected for a fourth term, many other Tory candidates were not, including Leader Blaine Higgs.
“I was involved with the premier when he was first nominated [as the Progressive Conservative candidate for Quispamsis] back in 2010, I was the regional coordinator,” Oliver told our newsroom.
“I’ve known him ever since and he’s just been a peach of a guy. I just have all kinds of respect for him.”
Oliver was one of just 16 Progressive Conservative candidates elected in Monday’s election. A number of incumbent Tories were defeated by Liberal candidates.
He believes the secret to his success is ensuring his riding is always his main responsibility.
“I think that if every MLA took that approach that they would continue to be elected year after year,” said Oliver.
As for what the party could have done differently to secure another victory, Oliver believes they went in with the right approach.
“We talked about our fiscal responsibility and how we’ve managed that over the last few years, we talked about how we handled COVID,” he said.
“I think that we did some good things and when the winds of change are there, there’s not much you can do, so we just accept it.”
When Oliver returns to the legislature this time around, it will be as part of the Official Opposition rather than the government.
He said the Progressive Conservatives will work hard to hold the Liberal government to account.
“Speaking with Susan Holt before, she always said we should be listening to good ideas. Good ideas don’t just come from the government side,” added Oliver.