# Kris Austin

Kris Austin MLA (born 1979) is a Canadian politician who serves as an MLA in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. 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.
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.
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 rights and official bilingualism.

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

## Electoral record

vte2024 New Brunswick general election: Fredericton-Grand Lake :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Kris Austin | 4,456 | 54.0% |
| | Liberal | Kevin Dignam | 2,277 | 27.6% |
| | Green | Ken Washburn | 862 | 10.4% |
| | People's Alliance | Rick DeSaulniers | 461 | 5.6% |
| | New Democratic | Arthur Taylor | 195 | 2.4% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 8,251 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | |
| Source: Elections New Brunswick |||||||
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 | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 8,097 | 100.0 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 25 | 0.31 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 8,122 | 70.17 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 11,575 |
| | People's Alliance hold | People's Alliance hold | Swing | Swing | -5.56 |
| Source: Elections New Brunswick |||||||
2018 New Brunswick general election: Fredericton-Grand Lake :
| Party | 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 | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 8,792 | 100.0 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 10 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 8,802 | 75.08% |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 11,724 |
| | People's Alliance gain from Progressive Conservative | People's Alliance gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | Swing | +13.5 |
| Source: Elections New Brunswick ||||||
2014 New Brunswick general election: Fredericton-Grand Lake :
| Party | 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 | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 8,347 | 100.0 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 16 | 0.19 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 8,363 | 70.66 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 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 ||||||
2010 New Brunswick general election: Grand Lake-Gagetown :
| Party | 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 | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 7,132 | 100.0 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 42 | 0.59 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 7,174 | 77.73 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 9,229 |
| | Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal | Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | Swing | +9.06 |
| Source: Elections New Brunswick ||||||