Kris Austin (born 1979) is a Canadian politician who serves as an MLA in the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick () is the deliberative assembly of the New Brunswick Legislature, in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The assembly's seat is located in Fredericton. It was established in Saint John ''de jure'' ...

. Previously, he served as the leader of the

People's Alliance of New Brunswick The People's Alliance of New Brunswick (PANB) is a provincial political party in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It was formed in 2010. The party has been described as being right-wing populist. In the 2018 election, the party won thr ...

. On October 13, 2022, he was appointed minister of public safety and solicitor-general by Premier Blaine Higgs and served in that position until the Higgs government was defeated in the 2024 New Brunswick general election. Austin led the People's Alliance into the 2010 provincial election and 2014 provincial elections in which the party won no seats. In the 2018 provincial election the party won three seats including Austin's riding of Fredericton-Grand Lake. He was re-elected in the 2020 provincial election in which his party lost one seat, electing two MLAs. On March 30, 2022, Austin announced he will be leaving the

to join the

Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a Centre-right politics, centre-right Conservatism in Canada, conservative political party in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. The party has its o ...

. Austin is a Baptist minister and has worked in public relations. Austin's appointment to provincial cabinet in the Higgs government was denounced by the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick due to his opposition to

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

rights and official bilingualism.

Minister of Public Safety (2022–2024)

On October 13, 2022, Austin was appointed as the

Minister of Public Safety The minister of public safety and emergency preparedness () is the minister of the Crown responsible for Public Safety Canada and a member of the Cabinet of Canada. The portfolio succeeded the role of Solicitor General of Canada in 2005. Gary ...

following Dominic Cardy's resignation as the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, which had caused Bill Hogan, the former public safety minister, to take his place. In December 2023, Mayor Allan MacEachern of St. Stephen's declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

due to an increase in homelessness along with the recent death of a homeless person in the municipality. The provincial government was accused of failing to offer housing and social services as part of the declaration. The municipality has a population of just over 4,000, 70 of whom are homeless. Shortly following the state of emergency, Austin terminated it, calling it disappointing and likened it to car accidents by saying, “People die all the time in car accidents, and we do not declare state of emergencies for that.” He later reaffirmed this by emphasizing that the situation wasn't severe enough to constitute a state of emergency. The ensuing disagreement between Austin and MacEachern led to Austin proposing that St. Stephen provide shelter for the homeless, which MacEachern claimed to have already tried doing through a homelessness committee with council approval. However, according to MacEachern, the province later deemed the selected property to be used unsuitable, resulting in a temporary halt in the project. Austin made additional comments in which he put the blame of the homeless man's death on Liberal policies, stating, "All of these issues that we're facing today is based on Trudeau policies,

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

agendas, that is degrading our society that we're seeing right across the country."

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Kris New Brunswick political party leaders Living people People's Alliance of New Brunswick MLAs 1979 births 21st-century Canadian Baptist ministers Politicians from Hamilton, Ontario New Brunswick municipal councillors Politicians from Fredericton 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick