| New Brunswick New Democratic Party Nouveau Parti démocratique du Nouveau-Brunswick |
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|---|---|
| Active provincial party | |
| Leader | Dominic Cardy |
| President | Leigh Sprague |
| Founded | 1933 as the New Brunswick branch of the CCF, renamed New Brunswick NDP in 1962 |
| Headquarters | 924 Prospect Street, Suite 2 Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 2T9 |
| Ideology | Social democracy |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| International affiliation | Socialist International |
| Official colours | Orange |
| Seats in Legislature |
0 / 55
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| Website | |
| www.nbndp.ca | |
| Politics of New Brunswick Political parties Elections |
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The New Brunswick New Democratic Party (French: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Nouveau-Brunswick) is a social-democratic provincial political party in New Brunswick, Canada linked with the federal New Democratic Party (NDP).
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The New Brunswick NDP traces its roots to the Fredericton Socialist League, which was founded in 1902. The League had branches throughout the province by World War I.
In 1933, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a democratic socialist federal political party, was formed with the proclamation of the Regina Manifesto. In 1933, the Moncton Trades and Labour Council adopted a resolution to create a branch of the CCF in New Brunswick. This led to the creation of the New Brunswick CCF that year.
Despite its early formation, the New Brunswick CCF was slow at establishing itself on the provincial political scene. It ran only one candidate in the 1939 election, Joseph C. Arrowsmith in the riding of Saint John City, winning 712 votes. The fortunes of the New Brunswick CCF rose in tandem with the fortunes of the national CCF during World War II. In the 1944 provincial election the CCF won 11.7 percent of the vote under the leadership of J. A. Mugridge, a trade unionist and the chief electrician at the Saint John Drydock and Shipbuilding Company. In that election, the CCF ran on a twelve-point program that included a promise public ownership and full development of all natural resources including electricity, oil and gas and other public utilities.
The 1944 election proved to be a high-point for CCF strength in New Brunswick however. A combination of anti-CCF propaganda, the increasing adoption of somewhat progressive policies by the New Brunswick Liberals and Conservatives, and a general trend of post-war decline for the CCF nationally all contributed to weaken the New Brunswick CCF in the 1948 provincial election, this time under Arrowsmith's leadership, in which they received half the votes they won in 1944 and again won no seats. In the 1952 provincial election, the CCF ran only 12 candidates and received only 1.3% of the vote and no seats. The CCF ran no candidates in the 1956 and 1960 provincial elections.
In 1961, the CCF merged with the Canadian Labour Congress to form the New Democratic Party (NDP) at both federal and provincial levels. The New Brunswick NDP was formed in 1962. The party spent the remainder of the decade getting itself organized and established, including forging links with some of the labour movement. The party was not in a position to run candidates in the 1963 provincial election, and ran only three candidates in 1967.
In 1971, the New Brunswick NDP was taken over by The Waffle, a radical wing of the party, precipitating a bitter two-month split in the party. The federal NDP responded by temporarily dissolving the provincial wing until non-Waffle leadership was re-established. The Waffle episode had the effect of promoting greater labour involvement in the party, via concern that the party would fall under the sway of radicals without it. During the late 1970s, under the leadership of John LaBossiere, the party increasingly adopted policy positions that reflected feminist and environmentalist concerns, namely opposition to the construction of the Point Lepreau nuclear plant. This stance soured relations with some labour supporters. The party also saw its membership grow and its organisational abilities improve during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Along with traditional social-democratic NDP planks, the party also began to attack government patronage and poor fiscal management. Relations with the labour movements and women's movement improved further after George Little became party leader in 1980.
| General election | # of candidates | # of elected candidates | # of ridings | % of popular vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | 1 | 0 | 48 | 0.1% |
| 1944 | 41 | 0 | 48 | 11.7% |
| 1948 | 20 | 0 | 52 | 6.0% |
| 1952 | 12 | 0 | 52 | 1.3% |
| 1956 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 0.0% |
| 1960 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 0.0% |
| 1963 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 0.0% |
| 1967 | 3 | 0 | 58 | 0.3% |
| 1970 | 31 | 0 | 58 | 2.8% |
| 1974 | 35 | 0 | 58 | 2.9% |
| 1978 | 36 | 0 | 58 | 6.5% |
| 1982 | 54 | 1 | 58 | 10.2% |
| 1987 | 58 | 0 | 58 | 10.6% |
| 1991 | 58 | 1 | 58 | 10.8% |
| 1995 | 55 | 1 | 55 | 9.7% |
| 1999 | 55 | 1 | 55 | 8.8% |
| 2003 | 55 | 1 | 55 | 9.7% |
| 2006 | 48 | 0 | 55 | 5.1% |
| 2010 | 55 | 0 | 55 | 10.4% |
There are currently no New Democrats in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. In the past, three separate individuals have been elected as New Democrats and they are as follows:
The NDP's predecessor, the CCF never won a seat in the New Brunswick legislature. In the 1920 general election nine United Farmers and two Farmer-Labour MLAs were elected.
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