Saint John Harbour

Saint John Harbour
New Brunswick electoral district
Saint John Harbour in relation to other New Brunswick Provincial electoral districts
Provincial electoral district
Legislature Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
MLA
 
 		  
Carl Killen
Progressive Conservative
District created 1994
First contested 1995
Last contested 2010

Saint John Harbour is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada. It was represented from its creation for the 1995 election until October 13, 2005 by Elizabeth Weir, the leader of the New Democratic Party of New Brunswick from 1988 to September 25, 2005. Liberal Ed Doherty had then taken the spot by winning a by-election on November 14, 2005 and was re-elected in the 2006 general election.

It is currently represented by Progressive Conservative Carl Killen who was elected in the 2010 general election.

Prior to the New Brunswick electoral redistribution of 1994 another riding called Saint John Harbour existed. The former Saint John Harbour district was split in two with part being merged with Saint John South to form this current Saint John Harbour district, while the other half of the former Harbour district became a part of Saint John Lancaster.

Contents

Redistribution changes

This district was created in the early 1990s using all of the district of Saint John South and a small portion of the old Saint John Harbour district, resulting in some confusion as most of what had been known as Saint John Harbour became a part of Saint John Portland.

In the 2006 redistribution it underwent only minor changes.

Earlier results (1995-2003)

1995 New Brunswick election: Saint John Harbour
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
     New Democratic Elizabeth Weir 2901 51.8% *
     Liberal Robert Higgins 1813 32.3% *
     Progressive Conservative Lloyd Betts 702 12.5% *
     Confederation of Regions Roland Griffith 137 2.4% *
     Natural Law Janice S. MacMillan 52 0.9% *
 
     N.D.P. hold*. Majority 1088 19.4%

* This was a new riding created out of a merger of the whole of the electoral district of Saint John South and a part of the former district of Saint John Harbour. Weir was the incumbent from Saint John South.

1999 New Brunswick election: Saint John Harbour
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
     New Democratic Elizabeth Weir 2398 46.6% -5.2%
     Progressive Conservative Tim Clarke 1349 26.2% +13.7%
     Liberal Mark Thomas McNulty 1347 26.2% -6.1%
     Natural Law Thomas Mitchell 54 1.0% +0.1%
 
     N.D.P. hold. Majority 1049 20.4%
2003 New Brunswick election: Saint John Harbour
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
     New Democratic Elizabeth Weir 1929 43.4% -3.2%
     Progressive Conservative Dennis Boyle 1286 28.9% +2.7%
     Liberal Anne-Marie Mullin 1231 27.7% +1.5%
 
     N.D.P. hold. Majority 643 14.5%

2005 by-election

Elizabeth Weir, who had held this riding since its creation, resigned on October 13, 2005 and Premier of New Brunswick Bernard Lord called a by-election for the riding on October 15. The by-election was held on November 14, 2005 and was from the outset thought to be a close race between Lord's Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals with Weir's New Democrats unlikely to be able to compete without her personal popularity, particularly against the large organizations the other parties were likely to bring into the riding from around the province.

In the end the Liberals won the race in a landslide, more than doubling their vote over the previous election, with an absolute majority of 55% in a race with four candidates. Bernard Lord placed his reputation on the line, according to pundits, due to his choice of a high profile candidate and his announcing over $50 million in spending over the course of the four week campaign. As a result, many viewed this election as a huge blow to Lord's leadership and that it, along with two years of opinion polling showing Lord's PCs trailing the Liberals, the beginning of the end of his government.

The by-election also had immediate province-wide repercussions, bringing the standings in the legislature to 27 government, 27 opposition and the speaker. These standings would mean that the absence of one government member - even if he or she did not vote with the opposition - could defeat the government.

Candidates

Ed Doherty

The New Brunswick Liberal Association nominated local ophthalmologist Ed Doherty as their candidate on October 18, 2005. He won the nomination by acclamation after past candidate Anne-Marie Mullin dropped out of the race to back Doherty.

Doherty is well known in the community as a volunteer in numerous community and international groups and was a candidate against Paul Zed for the federal Liberal nomination for Saint John in the 2004 election.

Michelle Hooton

Lord's Progressive Conservative Party nominated star candidate Saint John deputy mayor Michelle Hooton on October 17, 2005. Hooton was placed 1st out of 50 candidates in the 2004 municipal election which, by precedent, made her deputy mayor. Lord invoked rules in the PC Party constitution which allowed him to bar any other candidates from the race as the by-election had already called and, as a result, Hooton was acclaimed at the nomination for the PC Party.

Glen Jardine

Glen Jardine registered as an independent candidate. He owned a local furniture store and several apartment buildings in the riding but lived outside of its boundaries. Jardine said that he is politically aligned closely with the Liberals but could not organize a run against Ed Doherty for the nomination in the quick turnaround time between the election call and the candidate selection. He said he had planned to move to the riding in the following year.

Dan Robichaud

Dan Robichaud was nominated by the New Brunswick New Democratic Party, whose Elizabeth Weir held the riding prior to the by-election, on October 20. Robichaud, with 10 votes, defeated Sharon Flatt, with 6 votes, an environmental activist, and Terry Albright the past president of the New Brunswick NDP, with only 3 votes, on the first ballot.

Robichaud, who owned a local stained glass business, was making his second attempt at elected politics. He ran in 2004 for Saint John city council and finished 42nd out of 50 candidates.

Timeline

Results

2005 by-election: Saint John Harbour
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
     Liberal Ed Doherty 2367 55.3% +27.6%
     Progressive Conservative Michelle Hooton 1136 26.5% -2.4%
     New Democratic Dan Robichaud 734 17.1% -26.3%
     Independent Glen A. Jardine 47 1.1% -
 
     Liberal gain. Majority 1231 28.7%

2006 election

Liberal Ed Doherty faced NDP candidate Dan Robichaud, whom he had run against in the 2005 by-election, as well as Conservative candidate Idee Inyangudor, an aide to a member of the cabinet and perennial candidate David Raymond Amos.

The results were as follows (comparisons to the last general election):

2006 New Brunswick election: Saint John Harbour
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
     Liberal Ed Doherty 2690 60.86% +33.2%
     Progressive Conservative Idee Inyangudor 1139 25.77% -3.1%
     New Democratic Dan Robichaud 547 12.38% -31.0%
     Independent David Raymond Amos 44 1.00% -
 
     Liberal hold. Majority 1551 35.09%

2010 election

2010 New Brunswick election: Saint John Harbour
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
     Progressive Conservative Carl Killen 1334 30.66 +4.89
     Liberal Ed Doherty 1325 30.45 -30.41
     New Democratic Wayne Dryer 1,202 27.63 +15.25
     Independent John Campbell 253 5.81% -
     Green Patty Higgins 237 5.45% -
 

External links

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