Mackenzie Thomason

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. He returned to New Brunswick upon acceptance to the University of New Brunswick.

Before becoming interim leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party, he worked for UPS and as a newspaper carrier in Fredericton. He is currently a bus driver in Fredericton.

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. 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 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, senior care, making prescription medicine affordable, as well as reducing and eventually eliminating tuition for post-secondary education.

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