FREDERICTON — The longest-serving member of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives says he won’t be running in the upcoming election.

Trevor Holder is also the fourth Tory who publicly broke ranks with Premier Blaine Higgs to announce a departure from provincial politics in recent weeks.

Holder, first elected in 1999, read a statement on the floor of the legislature today in which he said he worries people have taken for granted the freedom and democratic institutions earlier generations had fought for.

He says he won’t be back in May but didn’t give a precise date for when he will leave as member for Portland-Simonds.

In June, Holder resigned from cabinet after he dissented against his party for requiring students to get parental consent before they can be referred to by teachers by their preferred names and pronouns.

Other ex-ministers who publicly broke ranks with Higgs over the issue — Dorothy Shephard, Daniel Allain and Jeff Car — have all recently announced they won’t be running in the next election, which has to be held by October.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press