1995 New Brunswick general election
The 1995 New Brunswick general election was held on September 11, 1995, to elect the 55 members of the 53rd New Brunswick Legislative Assembly.
The Liberals won their third consecutive majority government, with Premier McKenna's personal popularity aiding the Liberals in retaining a large majority. The PCs managed only 6 seats, while the CoR lost all theirs. The combined PC-CoR vote exceeded that of the Liberals in an additional 10 ridings.
Background
The election marked the debut of Bernard Valcourt as a provincial politician, and as leader of a reinvigorated Progressive Conservative Party. A popular politician from Edmundston, Valcourt had served as an MP from 1984 to 1993, serving in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell. The New Brunswick PCs had been in the political wilderness for the better part of a decade; they were shut out of the legislature in 1987, and only managed a third-place showing with 3 seats in 1991. The internal disarray of the CoR party had vacated room on the right for the PCs, and polls suggested a more competitive race than in the previous few elections.Frank McKenna's Liberal Party sought a third term in government, as the Confederation of Regions party struggled to survive after considerable internal strife. Elizabeth Weir tried to expand her New Democratic Party's foothold in the legislature.
This election was the first since 1974 to feature a boundary redistribution, with an overall reduction in the size of the legislature from 58 to 55 seats.
Results
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