On July 31, party president Erika Hachey said there weren't enough valid letters from riding association presidents. At first, only 15 were valid, but Hachey later told one member his letter was discounted by error. This meant members were four letters short, and they had until Aug. 25 to correct the problems and submit them again.

Johnson declined to answer questions about why the threshold was not met and what would happen next, if anything. She did not say whether the issue was the number of valid letters received or another reason. She said the one-sentence emailed response "will be our only comment."

'We're not giving up'

Marc Savoie, president of the PC riding association in Moncton East, said members believed they submitted the required number of letters, so this was disappointing news.

"We're not surprised but very much disappointed," he said. "We have no clear indication of how many letters were missed, how many were rejected a second time."

He said he's also disappointed by the party's lack of transparency. He said he doesn't know whether his own letter was accepted. It was previously rejected because he was interim president, Savoie said, and this time around he had the backing of his board and believed the issue was resolved.

Marc Savoie, president of the PC riding association in Moncton East, says the party has not told him if his own letter was rejected or accepted. (Gilles Landry/Radio-Canada)

He said some members' letters were rejected because their memberships have expired. He said those members renewed their memberships.

Savoie said members will continue to push a leadership review, but they are now forced to wait until the fall. This is because the electoral map redesign will change some ridings and bring in nine or ten new presidents.

"We're not giving up," he said.

The push to remove Higgs began after two of his ministers resigned in light of his government's changes to Policy 713 on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. Higgs said he wants to include parents in kids' lives. The changes effectively make it mandatory to get parental consent before school staff can use a child under 16's chosen name and pronoun. Critics have said allowing parents to have a veto over pronouns puts kids at risk.

When they stepped down, then-ministers Dorothy Shephard and Trevor Holder criticized Higgs's unilateral leadership style and said he has strayed from long-time PC party principles.

Kelly Lamrock, the province's child and youth advocate, has since found that the changes to the policy violate several provincial laws and children's Charter rights. 

Higgs has said he stands by the changes.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said it plans to sue the province on behalf of LGBTQ kids and their parents.