Bernard Lord
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| Bernard Lord | |
 Mr. Bernard Lord |
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| In office June 21, 1999 – October 3, 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Camille Theriault |
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| Succeeded by | Shawn Graham |
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| Born | September 27, 1965 Roberval, Quebec |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative |
| Spouse | Diane Haché |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Bernard Lord, LL.B., BA, MLA (born September 27, 1965 in Roberval, Quebec) is a Canadian politician.
He is the Leader of the Opposition in New Brunswick. He served as Premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006.
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[edit] Early life
Lord was raised in a bilingual household in Moncton, New Brunswick. Lord's brother would go on to be internationally acclaimed concert pianist, Roger Lord. He took a keen interest in politics as a child, he first campaigned for the New Brunswick New Democratic Party while a university student but later joined the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick. After graduating from high school, he earned a bachelor's degree in social science with a major in economics as well as a bachelor's degree in common law from the Université de Moncton.
While in university, he had some electoral success being elected the president of UdeM's student union. In 1995, however, he made two unsuccessful bids for mainstream politics. In May, he was defeated in a bid for a seat on Dieppe town council and in October, he ran for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick but was defeated by a margin of over 3-to-1 in the riding of Dieppe-Memramcook.
[edit] Election as leader
Despite this, in 1997, he became leader of the PC Party of New Brunswick and then became the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the district of Moncton East in a 1998 by-election. He was able to become leader of the PC Party due to his being the only bilingual candidate and being able to draw a strong concentration of support in the Moncton-area, one of four cities in which members could vote. Lord defeated Norm Betts, who was the perceived frontrunner, as well as Margaret-Ann Blaney, who, with Betts, would go on to serve in Lord's cabinet, and Cleveland Allaby a Fredericton lawyer who would go on to be retained by the New Brunswick Department of Justice for large fees amid controversy under Lord's term and then be the subject of intense media attention when Lord said that Michael Malley's decision to leave the party was in part due to demands that Allaby be named a judge ([1]).
[edit] Premier
On June 7, 1999, Lord's PC party overcame an early deficit in the polls to pull out a landslide victory on the provincial general election, winning 44 of 55 seats in the legislature. At just 33 years of age, Lord (on June 21) became the youngest premier in Canadian history.
Using the successful tactics from the 1994 United States elections of Republican Congressional leader, Newt Gingrich, Bernard Lord was elected on his "200 Days of Change" platform, consisting of 20 promises of things he would do within the first 200 days of his mandate if he were elected premier. Although he did accomplish all of them, many opponents of Lord argued with him over the ways he accomplished those goals, and that he spent too much time with those 20 promises while neglecting other important matters to the province.
In 2002, Lord delivered what the media and others hailed as an electrifying speech at the national Progressive Conservative Party of Canada convention in Edmonton, Alberta, which started speculation that he might run for a job in federal politics, specifically, replacing Joe Clark as federal PC leader.
A very strong movement of influential conservatives erupted after Edmonton to lobby the Premier into federal politics, everything from a website to a coast to coast organization [1] was being set up to woo the Premier to leave Fredericton and head to Ottawa. .[2]
A short time later, Lord shot down any notions that that might happen, choosing instead to remain focused on provincial politics and the 2003 New Brunswick election.
That election was not kind to Lord, as he neglected to mention the issue of rising car insurance rates until relatively late in the campaign, and barely held on to a majority over the surging Liberal Party led by Shawn Graham. The February 18, 2006 resignation from the Progressive Conservative caucus of Miramichi-Bay du Vin MLA Michael Malley reduced Lord's government to minority status.
Lord was again courted for federal politics in late 2003 when the PC Party of Canada and the Canadian Alliance merged into the Conservative Party of Canada.
In the end, Lord opted to stay in New Brunswick due to his young family and the fact that his departure would force his party into a minority government situation.
In 2004, Lord's government came under fire over a variety of unpopular stances, most notably changes to health care. These included closures of beds at hospitals in Miramichi and Dalhousie, and consolidation of four hospitals in the Upper St. John River Valley into one. The Liberals, under leader Shawn Graham, led in public opinion polls as of the summer of 2004 and maintained that lead; however, Bernard Lord remained the most favoured Leader to be Premier of New Brunswick for a time, though Graham has since surpassed him in that measure as well.
In 2005, Lord's popularity continued to drop although there were renewed calls for him to enter federal politics.
Much fun has been made of the fact that his last name is "Lord". The policy of referring to political figures by their last names has led people to infer a connection with God, who is also known as Lord. In one instance, a banner in a polling station reading "Trust in the Lord" had the last word covered with black tape so that it would not influence voting.
On Thursday, August 10, announced that on August 19 Bernard Lord called an election for Monday, September 18. This election call was in response to the loss of a caucus member, Peter Mesheau, who announced his intention to resign to work in the private sector. The resignation would have caused Lord to slip into a minority government and the subsequent by-election could have flipped the balance of power to the Liberals.
In the campaign that followed, Lord lost the government to the Liberals who took 29 seats to 26 for the Conservatives. The Tories did however manage to win the popular vote besting the Liberals 47.5% to 47.2%. Lord left the Premier's Office on October 3, 2006.
[edit] References
- ^ Shawn Berry, "Tory Youth leader in P.E.I. backs Lord for federal leadership". NB Telegraph-Journal, A1, September 9th 2002
- ^ The Right Fight.
| Provincial Government of Bernard Lord | ||
| Cabinet Posts (5) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| Camille Thériault | Premier of New Brunswick (1999-2006) |
Shawn Graham |
| Camille Thériault | President of the Executive Council (1999-2006) |
Shawn Graham |
| Percy Mockler | Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs (2006) Mockler was designated as Minister of Intergovernmental and International Relations |
Shawn Graham |
| himself | Minister of Intergovernmental and International Relations (2003) Lord changed the portfolio from Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs |
Percy Mockler |
| Bernard Thériault | Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs (1999-2003) Thériault was Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs, Lord succeeded himself as Minister of Intergovernmental and International Relations |
himself |
| Special Cabinet Responsibilities | ||
| Predecessor | Title | Successor |
| new designation | Minister responsible for Youth (2003-2006) |
Kelly Lamrock |
| new designation | Minister responsible for the Status of the Disabled Persons (2003-2006) |
Shawn Graham |
| Jean Paul Savoie | Minister responsible for the Regional Development Corporation (1999-2006) |
Jeannot Volpé |
| new designation | Minister responsible for eNB (2001-2003) |
Peter Mesheau |
| Greg Byrne | Minister responsible for the Service New Brunswick (1999-2000) |
Peter Mesheau |
| Preceded by: Camille Thériault |
Premier of New Brunswick 1999–2006 |
Succeeded by: Shawn Graham |
| Preceded by: Elvy Robichaud |
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick 1998-1999; 2006-present |
Succeeded by: Camille Thériault |
| Preceded by: Shawn Graham |
Incumbent | |
| Preceded by: Bernard Valcourt |
Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick 1997–present |
Incumbent |
| Vacant Title last held by Ray Frenette {Liberal) |
MLA for Moncton East 1998-present |
Incumbent |
