New Brunswick general election, 1995

New Brunswick general election, 1995

September 11, 1995
55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick 28 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   PC NDP Leader Frank McKenna Bernard Valcourt Elizabeth Weir Party Liberal Progressive Conservative New Democratic Leader since 1985 1995 1988 Leader's seat Miramichi-Bay du Vin Edmundston Saint John Harbour Last election 46 3 1 Seats won 48 6 1 Seat change 2 3 0 Popular vote 201,150 120,247 37,579 Percentage 51.63% 30.87% 9.65% Swing 4.52% 10.17% 1.13%   Fourth party   CoR Leader Greg Hargrove Party Confederation of Regions Leader since 1995 Leader's seat Mactaquac (lost re-election) Last election 8 Seats won 0 Seat change 8 Popular vote 27,684 Percentage 7.11% Swing 14.09%
Map of New Brunswick's ridings coloured in based on the winning parties and their popular vote
Premier before election Frank McKenna Liberal Premier-designate Frank McKenna Liberal

Rendition of party representation in the 53rd New Brunswick Legislative Assembly decided by this election.

  Liberals (48)

  Progressive Conservatives (6)

  New Democrats (1)

The 33rd New Brunswick general election was held on September 11, 1995, to elect 55 members to the 53rd New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada.

The Liberals were again victorious. McKenna's personal popularity allowed the Liberals to maintain a large majority while the Tories managed only 6 seats. The combined PC-CoR vote exceeded that of the Liberals in an additional 10 ridings (Albert, Fundy Isles, Kings East, Mactaquac, Petitcodiac, Saint John-Fundy, Southwest Miramichi, Victoria-Tobique, Western Charlotte and Woodstock).

Also of note, there were 55 ridings in this election, as opposed to 58 in previous elections. It was the first time boundaries were redrawn in New Brunswick since 1974.

Background

Valcourt, a popular politician from Edmundston, had served as an MP from 1984 to 1993, and served in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell. The New Brunswick Tories had been in shambles for the better part of a decade. They were shut out of the legislature in 1987, and won only 3 seats and third place in 1991. The internal meltdown of the CoR party had left them lots of room on the right, and polls showed that there would be a competitive race.

The election marked the debut of Bernard Valcourt as a provincial politician, and as leader of a reinvigorated Progressive Conservative Party. Frank McKenna sought a third term for his Liberal government, while the Confederation of Regions (CoR) party struggled to survive after considerable internal strife. Elizabeth Weir tried to expand her New Democratic Party's foothold in the legislature.

Results

* Natural Law did not contest the 1991 election.

Candidates

Many new and changed districts were used for the first time in this election as a result of an electoral redistribution.

Legend

• bold denotes a party leader
• italics denotes a potential candidate who has not received his/her party's nomination
• † denotes an incumbent who is not running for re-election
• * denotes an incumbent seeking re-election in a new district

Northern New Brunswick

Eastern New Brunswick

Southeastern New Brunswick

Greater Saint John & Fundy Coast

Greater Fredericton

Upper Saint John River Valley