New Brunswick general election, 1982
Encyclopedia
50th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly
The 50th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly was created following a general election in 1982. It was dissolved on August 29, 1987.-Leadership:...
, the governing house of the province
Provinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It saw Richard Hatfield
Richard Hatfield
Richard Bennett Hatfield, PC, ONB was a New Brunswick politician and long time Premier of the province .- Early life :...
's Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a centre-right political party in New Brunswick, Canada. It has its origins in the pre-Canadian confederation Conservative Party that opposed the granting of responsible government to the colony...
win its largest majority ever to that time. (Bernard Lord
Bernard Lord
Bernard Lord, ONB, QC, is a Canadian politician and lobbyist. Lord served as the 30th Premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006.-Early life:...
beat this record in 1999
New Brunswick general election, 1999
The 34th New Brunswick general election was held on June 7, 1999, to elect 55 members to the 54th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It marked the debut of both Camille Thériault and Bernard Lord as leaders of the Liberals and...
.)
The Opposition Liberal Party
New Brunswick Liberal Association
The New Brunswick Liberal Association , more popularly known as the New Brunswick Liberal Party or Liberal Party of New Brunswick, is one of the two major political parties in the Canadian province of New Brunswick...
had changed leaders four times since the eve of the 1978 election
New Brunswick general election, 1978
The 29th New Brunswick general election was held on October 23, 1978, to elect 58 members to the 49th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Richard Hatfield's Progressive Conservative Party narrowly won its third term.In the lead up to...
. It chose Doug Young just months before the vote in a divisive contest that came down to a final ballot against Joseph A. Day
Joseph A. Day
Joseph A. Day is a Canadian politician. He has been a Canadian Senator since October 4, 2001.Day studied at College Militaire Royal Saint-Jean in 1963. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario in 1968. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1963 to 1968...
.
The PCs ran two separate campaigns - one in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and one in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. The francophone campaign, which was mostly run by Hatfield's French lieutenant Jean-Maurice Simard
Jean-Maurice Simard
Jean-Maurice Simard was a Canadian Chartered Accountant and politician remembered as a strong promoter of French language rights and defender of Canadian bilingualism....
, began with the Grand Ralliement, a symposium on language rights which took place in Shippagan
Shippagan, New Brunswick
Shippagan is a Canadian town in Gloucester County, New Brunswick.Located in the northeastern part of the Acadian Peninsula, a combination bridge-causeway connects the town with Lamèque Island to the northeast. Approximately 99% of the town's residents are Francophone.The town was founded by the...
ten days before the election call. Over 400 notable Acadians and other francophones attended. The dual campaigns were remarkably separate from each other, and in some cases contradictory: the English campaign revolved around attacking Doug Young's economic record, while the French campaign pointed out Hatfield's role working with Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
in enshrining francophone rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Liberals, divided by their recent leadership contest, ran a lackluster campaign which allowed Hatfield's and Simard's overtures to the Acadian
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
population to carry many seats that had been Liberal strongholds for generations, including 10 of 21 Acadian ridings. The Parti Acadien
Parti acadien
The Parti Acadien was a political party in New Brunswick, Canada, in the 1970s and 1980s. The party was founded in 1972 by Acadians who were upset over poorer living conditions in predominantly francophone areas of the province versus those areas dominated by anglophones...
made its last appearance, as the Conservatives adopted several key points of their former platform.
The New Democratic Party of New Brunswick elected Bob Hall as its first ever Member of the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick is located in Fredericton. It was established de jure when the colony was created in 1784, but only came in to session in 1786 following the first elections in late 1785. Until 1891, it was the lower house in a bicameral legislature when its upper house...
. He was later joined by a second NDP MLA, Peter Trites
Peter Trites
Peter Trites is a former high school teacher and political figure in New Brunswick, Canada. He represented Saint John East in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1984 to 1991 as a New Democratic Party and then Liberal member.He was born in Moncton, New Brunswick, the son of Gerald L....
, in a by-election.
Results
| 1982 New Brunswick Election Results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Leader | Results | ||
| Seats | % of votes cast | |||
| Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a centre-right political party in New Brunswick, Canada. It has its origins in the pre-Canadian confederation Conservative Party that opposed the granting of responsible government to the colony... |
Richard Hatfield Richard Hatfield Richard Bennett Hatfield, PC, ONB was a New Brunswick politician and long time Premier of the province .- Early life :... |
39 | 47.45% | |
| Liberal | Doug Young | 18 | 41.3% | |
| New Democratic | George Little George Little (New Brunswick politician) George Little is a retired high school English teacher and former leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party .Little and his family immigrated to Canada in 1964, settling in Saint John, New Brunswick. Originally from Scotland, he had been teaching in South Yemen before arriving in Canada... |
1 | 10.2% | |
| Parti Acadien Parti acadien The Parti Acadien was a political party in New Brunswick, Canada, in the 1970s and 1980s. The party was founded in 1972 by Acadians who were upset over poorer living conditions in predominantly francophone areas of the province versus those areas dominated by anglophones... |
Louise Blanchard | 0 | 0.87% | |
| Independents | 0 | 0.18% | ||
| Total | 58 | 100.0% | ||