Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick

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Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
Active Provincial Party
Founded	1867
Leader	Jeannot Volpé (interim)
President	Lester Young
Headquarters	PO 664 Station A Fredericton, NB E3B 5B4
Political ideology	Conservatism
International alignment
Colours	Blue
Website	www.pcnb.org

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, since the government of Richard Hatfield's attempts to include Acadians in the mainstream of New Brunswick life, the party has made inroads in Acadia. Current leader and outgoing 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.

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. It is unclear whether the provincial party will have any formal link with the current federal Conservative Party, although Premier Lord publicly endorsed the federal party in both the 2004 and 2006 federal elections.

Lord resigned as leader on December 13, 2006, and the party is set to choose a new leader later in 2007. Jeannot Volpé was elected as interim leader on December 19, 2006.

[edit] 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
Joan MacAlpine-Stiles	Moncton West	1999 g.e.	Tourism and Parks
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
Wally Stiles	Petitcodiac	1999 g.e.	Opposition Whip
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

[edit] See also

• List of New Brunswick premiers
• List of New Brunswick political parties

Major national, provincial, and territorial conservative parties in Canada (edit):

Forming the government:

Canada - Alberta - Prince Edward Island - Newfoundland and Labrador - Nova Scotia - Yukon

Forming the official opposition:

Manitoba - New Brunswick - Ontario - Saskatchewan Party - Action démocratique du Québec

Third parties represented in legislatures:

Alberta Alliance

Historical conservative parties:

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada - Canadian Alliance - Social Credit Party of Canada - British Columbia Conservative Party - British Columbia Social Credit Party - Social Credit Party of Alberta - Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan - Conservative Party of Quebec - Northwest Territories Liberal-Conservative Party