Kris Austin

Kris Austin MLA (born 1979) is a Canadian politician who serves as an MLA in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick.^[1] Previously, he served as the leader of the People's Alliance of New Brunswick. 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.^[2]

Kris Austin MLA
Austin in 2020
Minister of Public Safety
In office October 13, 2022 – November 2, 2024
Premier	Blaine Higgs
Preceded by	Bill Hogan
Succeeded by	Robert Gauvin
Leader of the People's Alliance of New Brunswick
In office June 5, 2010 – March 30, 2022
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Rick DeSaulniers
Member of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly for Fredericton-Grand Lake
Incumbent
Assumed office September 24, 2018
Preceded by	Pam Lynch
Personal details
Born	1979 (age 45–46) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Other political affiliations	People's Alliance of New Brunswick (2010– 2022)
Occupation	Minister

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 People's Alliance of New Brunswick to join the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick.^[3][4]

Austin is a Baptist minister and has worked in public relations.^[5]

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 rights and official bilingualism.^[2]

Minister of Public Safety (2022–2024)

On October 13, 2022, Austin was appointed as the Minister of Public Safety 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.^[6]

In December 2023, Mayor Allan MacEachern of St. Stephen's declared a state of emergency 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.^[7][8] Shortly following the state of emergency, Austin terminated it,^[9][10] 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.”^[11] 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.^[8] 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 agendas, that is degrading our society that we're seeing right across the country."^[12]

Electoral record

v t e 2024 New Brunswick general election: Fredericton-Grand Lake
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Kris Austin	4,456	54.0%	+22.7
	Liberal	Kevin Dignam	2,277	27.6%	+18.4
	Green	Ken Washburn	862	10.4%	-3.0
	People's Alliance	Rick DeSaulniers	461	5.6%	-39.2
	New Democratic	Arthur Taylor	195	2.4%	+1.4
Total valid votes			8,251
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Eligible voters
Source: Elections New Brunswick[13]

2020 New Brunswick general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	People's Alliance	Kris Austin	3,759	46.42	-8.16
	Progressive Conservative	Roy Wiggins	2,479	30.62	+2.95
	Green	Ken Washburn	1,005	12.41	+7.04
	Liberal	Eldon Hunter	749	9.25	-1.61
	New Democratic	Greg Cook	87	1.07	-0.22
	KISS	Grenville Woollacott	18	0.22	+0.01
Total valid votes			8,097	100.0
Total rejected ballots			25	0.31
Turnout			8,122	70.17
Eligible voters			11,575
	People's Alliance hold		Swing		-5.56
Source: Elections New Brunswick[14]

2018 New Brunswick general election: Fredericton-Grand Lake

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	People's Alliance	Kris Austin	4,799	54.6%	+25.8
	Progressive Conservative	Pam Lynch	2,433	27.7%	-1.1
	Liberal	Wendy Tremblay	955	10.9%	-17.0
	Green	Dan Weston	472	5.4%	+1.1
	New Democratic	Glenna Hanley	114	1.3%	-9.2
	KISS	Gerald Bourque	19	0.1%	New
Total valid votes			8,792	100.0
Total rejected ballots			10
Turnout			8,802	75.08%
Eligible voters			11,724
	People's Alliance gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+13.5
Source: Elections New Brunswick[14]

2014 New Brunswick general election: Fredericton-Grand Lake

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Pam Lynch	2,403	28.79
	People's Alliance	Kris Austin	2,377	28.48
	Liberal	Sheri Shannon	2,330	27.91
	New Democratic	Bronwen Mosher	879	10.53
	Green	Dan Weston	358	4.29
Total valid votes			8,347	100.0
Total rejected ballots			16	0.19
Turnout			8,363	70.66
Eligible voters			11,835
Voting results declared after judicial recount.
This riding was created from parts of Grand Lake-Gagetown and Fredericton-Fort Nashwaak, both elected a Progressive Conservative in the previous election. Pam Lynch was the incumbent from Fredericton-Fort Nashwaak.
Source: Elections New Brunswick[14]

2010 New Brunswick general election: Grand Lake-Gagetown

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Ross Wetmore	3,190	44.73	-0.89
	Liberal	Barry Armstrong	2,118	29.70	-19.00
	People's Alliance	Kris Austin	1,416	19.85	–
	New Democratic	J.R. Magee	234	3.28	-2.40
	Green	Sandra Burtt	174	2.44	–
Total valid votes			7,132	100.0
Total rejected ballots			42	0.59
Turnout			7,174	77.73
Eligible voters			9,229
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+9.06
Source: Elections New Brunswick[14]