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“We have everything we need right here, at home, to build the kind of province — the kind of future — we want for our children and grandchildren.”

The Progressive Conservative Party was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.

Elections New Brunswick said in an email that there is nothing preventing any of the parties from campaigning before the writs are issued on Thursday, officially starting the campaign.

But spokesman Paul Harpelle said there are certain pre-writ regulations the parties must observe.

According to the agency’s Provincial Political Financing Manual, pre-writ advertising is considered to be a non-election expense.

There are both pre-election and election spending limits in place: each party can spend up to $200,000 in non-election expenses for advertising. This year’s election spending limit is estimated to be around $40,000.

Early polls suggest the race may be too close to call, although Gallant’s main opponent appears to be Blaine Higgs, who became head of the Progressive Conservative Party in October 2016.

The province’s finances are becoming the dominant issue early in the run-up to the campaign.

Since taking power in 2014, Gallant has become known as a big spender, vowing to shell out record amounts in health care and education, and an extra $150 million per year for six years on infrastructure.

Kim MacPherson, the province’s auditor general, warned in June that Liberal spending has come at a cost — with the province running its 11th consecutive deficit and a net debt on track to hit $14.4 billion by the end of March 2019.

The government announced in January it would delay a return to balanced budgets until 2021-2022.

The current makeup of the legislature has the Liberals with 24 seats, the Progressive Conservatives with 21, the Greens with one, former Liberal speaker Chris Collins sitting as an independent, and two vacancies.

Voters in New Brunswick are expected to head to the polls on Sept. 24.