Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick

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The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a right-of-centre political party in New Brunswick, Canada. It has its origins in the pre-Canadian confederation Conservative Party that opposed the granting of responsible government to the colony. Conservative supporters tended to be United Empire Loyalists and supporters of the business community.

In the 1860s, both the Conservative and Liberal parties split over the issue of Canadian confederation, and were replaced by the Confederation Party and the Anti-Confederation Party.

By 1870, the pro-Confederation party became generally known as the Liberal-Conservatives or just "Conservatives", and were aligned with the national Conservative Party of Sir John A. Macdonald.

The Tories have alternated power with the New Brunswick Liberal Party since Confederation. The party tends to hold a moderate Red Tory position, being socially centrist and fiscally conservative. For most of New Brunswick's history, the party had greater support among English speakers, while the Liberals were more popular among Acadians. However, initiatives by the governments of Richard Hatfield and Bernard Lord to include Acadians in the mainstream of New Brunswick life helped the party make inroads in Acadia. In fact, even though he was born in Québec, former Premier Bernard Lord is widely perceived to be an Acadian due to his francophone heritage and the fact that he was raised in Moncton where he attended French language schools and university.

The party was aligned with the historic federal Conservative party. When the federal party changed its name to the Progressive Conservatives in 1942, the New Brunswick party did the same. The federal Progressive Conservative Party dissolved in 2003, and a new Conservative Party of Canada was created. The provincial party has no formal link with the current federal Conservative Party, but several of its members and elected MLAs, including former Premier Lord, publicly endorsed the federal party and in some cases its candidates in both the 2004 and 2006 federal elections.

Following the change of government in 2006 provincial election, Bernard Lord resigned as leader on December 13 2006 and as the member of Moncton East. The party is set to choose a new leader later in 2008. On December 19 2006, Jeannot Volpé, MLA for Madawaska-les-Lacs, was selected as interim leader.

Current members of the legislature

Name	Riding	First elected	Opposition critic role(s)
David Alward	Woodstock	1999 g.e.	Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Keith Ashfield	New Maryland-Sunbury West	1999 g.e.	Natural Resources
John Betts	Moncton Crescent	1999 g.e.	Local Government
Margaret-Ann Blaney	Rothesay	1999 g.e.	Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, Status of Women
Jody Carr	Oromocto	1999 g.e.	Family & Community Services, Persons with Disabilities, Caucus chair
Madeleine Dubé	Edmundston-Saint Basile	1999 g.e.	Education
Dale Graham	Carleton	1993 by-e.	Human Resources
Bev Harrison	Hampton-Kings	1978 g.e.	Democratic Renewal, House Leader
Trevor Holder	Saint John Portland	1999 g.e.	Energy, Youth
Tony Huntjens	Charlotte-Campobello	1999 g.e.	Seniors, Housing
Claude Landry	Tracadie-Sheila	2006 g.e.	Health
Cy LeBlanc	Dieppe Centre-Lewisville	1999 g.e.	Supply & Services, Opposition Whip
Kirk MacDonald	York North	1999 g.e.	Business New Brunswick
Percy Mockler	Restigouche-la-Vallée	1982 g.e.	Regional Development Corporation, Immigration and Repatriation Secretariat
Bruce Northrup	Kings East	2006 g.e.	Environment
Mike Olscamp	Tantramar	2006 g.e.	Wellness, Culture & Sport
Rose-May Poirier	Rogersville-Kouchibouguac	1999 g.e.	Aboriginal Affairs
Paul Robichaud	Lamèque-Shippagan-Miscou	1999 g.e.	Transportation, Northern New Brunswick Initiative
Wayne Steeves	Albert	1999 g.e.	Public Safety
Carl Urquhart	York	2006 g.e.	Service New Brunswick
Jeannot Volpe	Madawaska-les-Lacs	1995 g.e.	Leader of the opposition, Finance
Claude Williams	Kent South	2001 by-e.	Intergovernmental Affairs, La Francophonie

Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick

Current members of the legislature

See also