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 Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. He returned to New Brunswick upon acceptance to the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...

. Before becoming interim leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party, he worked for UPS and as a newspaper carrier in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River (Bay of Fundy), Saint John River, ...

. He is currently a bus driver in

Political career

Thomason first became involved with politics during the 2015 Alberta general election where Rachel Notley's

Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party (Alberta NDP; ), is social democratic political party in Alberta, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left to left-wing of the political spectrum and is a provincial Alberta affiliate of the federal New Democra ...

won a majority government. He later volunteered with the federal

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

during the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election was held on October 19, 2015, to elect the 338 members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons of the 42nd Canadian Parliament, 42nd Parliament of Canada. In accordance with the Fixed election date ...

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 Fredericton North () is a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada from New Brunswick electoral redistribution, 1973, 1973 to New Bruns ...

and the NDP did not win any seats in the legislature. 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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. However, when

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Blaine Higgs called a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

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." 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. 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." 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.” Thomason's campaign focussed on bringing in a $15/hour

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

, senior care, making prescription medicine affordable, as well as reducing and eventually eliminating tuition for

post-secondary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational school ...

. In the 2020 New Brunswick general election, the NDP failed to win a seat, and received only 1.7% of the vote province-wide. Thomason resigned as interim leader on November 15, 2020. Thomason reassumed the NDP leadership on September 14, 2021 when he was acclaimed as permanent leader. He resigned eight months later, due to internal turmoil.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomason, Mackenzie Leaders of the New Brunswick CCF/NDP Living people People from Sunbury County, New Brunswick University of New Brunswick alumni 1997 births