Justin Trudeau's Liberals may have been re-elected for a third consecutive term despite falling short of winning a majority, but here in New Brunswick Southwest, spirits were high on election night at Fortune River Restaurant in St. George where Conservative incumbent John Williamson celebrated being re-elected for his third term.

Williamson won nearly half the votes in the riding with Liberal candidate Jason Hickey in a distant second place. Williamson said he's eager to put party politics aside and get back to work for everyone in the riding. 

It's been almost two months since New Brunswick ended its state of emergency order and lifted all COVID-19 restrictions, but with case counts on the rise amid the fourth wave of the pandemic, mandatory masks are returning this week at the same time as the proof of vaccination program goes into effect. 

There are now over 20 New Brunswickers in hospital with COVID-19 and half of those are in the ICU. The vast majority of hospitalized cases are not fully vaccinated. 

Since the proof of vaccination program was announced last week, Health Authorities and pharmacies have experienced an uptick in vaccination appointment bookings, with approximately 7000 New Brunswickers booking a first or second dose appointment in the last week alone. If cases continue to rise, however, Higgs says reinstituting further restrictions is a possibility.

26-year-old St. Stephen man Jacob Joseph Lawrence Hanley has been charged with two counts of assaulting a peace officer and one count of assault with a weapon. On September 16th, a forensic team examined a scene on Ross Avenue where, earlier that morning, an individual in mental distress was shot by police after threatening officers with a machete. Hanley has since been treated for a gunshot wound, and an independent review of the incident is scheduled to take place.  It's worth noting that exactly a year to day earlier, police were called to the same house on Ross Avenue to investigate the murder of 25-year-old Christopher Hanley, a homicide which has yet to be solved.