The 2014 Provincial Election in New Brunswick

Authors

  • J.P. Lewis University of New Brunswick (Saint John)
  • Tom Bateman Saint Thomas University
  • Don Desserud University of Prince Edward Island

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24124/c677/2017676

Keywords:

provincial elections, campaigns, New Brunswick politics

Abstract

In the 2006 and 2010 New Brunswick provincial elections, power changed hands as control of the government went from Progressive Conservative to Liberal (2006) and back to Progressive Conservative (2010). The 2014 election found Premier David Alward attempting to return an incumbent party to the government benches for the first time since Bernard Lord in 2003. Alward faced three new party leaders in Liberal Brian Gallant, New Democrat Dominic Cardy and the Green’s David Coon. Early polls predicted a Liberal landslide but the margin would close as Election Day approached with the Liberal earning a small 27 to 21 seat majority over the PC Party with Coon winning the first Green seat in the province and Cardy’s NDP being shutout. With the results, New Brunswick would find itself with another under-forty premier, Gallant was 32 years old when sworn-in, and a vacancy in the Progressive Conservative leadership as Alward swiftly stepped down after his party’s defeat. The election reflected another example of New Brunswick’s current turnstile party system with the two major parties differing on few issues and struggling to find electoral momentum in a stubborn provincial economy stymied by structural demographic challenges.

Author Biographies

J.P. Lewis, University of New Brunswick (Saint John)

Department of History and Politics Assistant Professor

Tom Bateman, Saint Thomas University

Department of Political Science Associate Professor

Don Desserud, University of Prince Edward Island

Department of Political Science Professor

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Published

2018-01-02

How to Cite

Lewis, J., Bateman, T., & Desserud, D. (2018). The 2014 Provincial Election in New Brunswick. Canadian Political Science Review, 11(1), 113–156. https://doi.org/10.24124/c677/2017676

Issue

Section

Reports on the Provinces