Higgs, a unilingual, vehemently opposed bilingualism is his early political journey and joined the right-wing, anti-bilingual New Brunswick Confederation of Regions Party, of which he ran for leadership in 1989.

The son of Carl, a customs officer, and Bertha, who taught in Fosterville, Higgs grew up in Forest City, a rural community in York County which sits along the Canada–United States border.

[8] While still working for Irving Oil, Higgs, a unilingual, opposed the province's Official Languages Act,[3] and proclaimed that an “inevitable association dedicated exclusively to the preservation of English Canadians” was needed.

[14] He also supported an elected Senate, opposed the Meech Lake Accord, favoured fixed terms for government, and stated "We do not have an obligation to cater to those people who can speak the common language, English, and refuse to do so".

Representing the Progressive Conservative Party in the provincial electoral district of Quispamsis, Higgs cited property taxes as being one of the Kennebecasis Valley's largest issues during the election.

[16] During his campaign, he addressed his previous affiliation with the CoR Party, stating that he was against "forced bilingualism … as a legislated thing, quickly, overnight" at the time, adding that he had a change of views since then.

On that date the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick leadership election was held and on the third ballot he defeated former Saint John Mayor Mel Norton, 1,563 to 1,169.

The Liberals opted to attempt to remain in power as a minority government by presenting a Throne Speech, in hopes of retaining the confidence of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick.

[22][23] On November 2, 2018, the Progressive Conservatives and the People's Alliance voted to defeat Premier Brian Gallant's Liberal minority government via a non-confidence motion in the legislature.

[28] This move, along with the removal of the Free Tuition Program, were highly criticized by students across the province, with some emphasizing that there is no longer any incentive to remain in New Brunswick to work or study.

[30] Higgs claimed multiple times that the funding was for capital projects, but according to a government backgrounder on the agreement, that specific program was meant to address the operating deficits and revenue shortfalls caused by the pandemic.

[31] Higgs also claimed that the program was only for larger provinces, stating, "that was a specific request for infrastructure funding for subways and for systems in Toronto and Montreal and BC — for the big cities."

Documents later showed that Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia have received a combined $57.1 million from Ottawa's "Safe Restart" public transit aid program.

[37] In 2021, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn announced that the provincial government would hire an independent commissioner to examine systemic racism, rather than call a public inquiry.

[40] In 2021, New Brunswick's Attorney General Ted Flemming sent a memo to government employees which asked them to cease making indigenous territorial acknowledgements that made reference to 'unceded' or 'unsurrendered' land.

The Higgs government has been praised by credit rating agencies, public policy think tanks, and media outlets for consistently generating surpluses and paying down the provincial debt, which had progressively increased due to annual deficits that began in the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

[53] The Higgs government’s sixth consecutive balanced budget in 2024 was applauded by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation,[54] and the National Post stated that “New Brunswick leads the way on common sense and fiscal restraint”.

[further explanation needed][59] Some groups have criticized the government's revisions to Policy 713, stating that it facilitates forced premature outing, misgendering, and deadnaming[60] and promotes homophobia and transphobia.

[68] Throughout early 2024, multiple Progressive Conservative politicians such as Arlene Dunn, Mike Holland, Jeff Carr, Daniel Allain,[69][70] Shephard as well as Trevor Holder have all made announcements either resigning or opting out of running for re-election.

Outhouse, who previously campaigned for the re-election of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith,[74] was paid a monthly salary of $20,776 in taxpayers' money, or $125,656 total by Higgs, which drew criticism from David Coon for being well above the average of around $150,000 to $175,000 annually.