The 37th New Brunswick general election was held on September 27, 2010, to elect 55 members to the 57th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The incumbent Liberal government won 13 seats, while the opposition Progressive Conservatives won a landslide majority of 42 seats in the legislature. As leader of the PC party, David Alward became New Brunswick's 32nd premier.
The Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick – acting on the advice of the Premier – would have originally been able to call an election earlier or as late as 2011; however a bill in the 56th Legislature has fixed election dates to the fourth Monday of September every four years beginning with this election. While an election could still have been called earlier in the event of a vote of no confidence, this did not take place.
With the defeat of Liberals, this election marked the first time in New Brunswick's history that a political party was voted out of office after just one term. The Liberals' 34.42% share of the popular vote marked the party's worst in the province's history.
October 10, 2006 - Organizers for the Green Party of Canada in New Brunswick announce plans to form a provincial Green Party in time to field a full slate of candidates in this election.
November 5, 2006 - Allison Brewer resigns as leader of the New Democratic Party. She will be replaced on an interim basis by Pat Hanratty and permanently upon the election of a new leader in late 2007.
December 12, 2006 - An opinion poll conducted November 10 to December 7 by Corporate Research Associates showed the Liberals enjoying an unprecedented lead in opinion polls, standing at 65% in contrast to 27% for the Progressive Conservatives, 6% for the New Democrats and 2% for the Greens.
December 13, 2006 - Bernard Lord resigns as leader of the Progressive Conservatives and announces he will resign his seat in the legislature on January 31, 2007.
March 5, 2007 - Liberal Chris Collins wins Lord's former seat in Moncton East changing the standings in the legislature to 30 Liberals, 25 Progressive Conservatives.
April 17, 2007 - Progressive Conservatives Joan MacAlpine-Stiles and Wally Stiles cross the floor and join the Liberals changing the standings in the legislature to Liberals 32, Progressive Conservatives 23.
May 29, 2007 - Government House Leader Stuart Jamieson tables Bill 75 which would fix election dates to the fourth Monday of September every four years beginning on September 27 in 2010. [38]
October 13, 2007 - The NDP elect Roger Duguay as their new leader.
May 17, 2008 - The Green Party of New Brunswick is formed. Mike Milligan is elected as the interim leader of the party until a convention can be held in the fall.
November 3, 2008 - Progressive Conservative Jack Carr holds a seat previously held by fellow Progressive Conservative Keith Ashfield who was elected as Conservative MP for Fredericton restoring the standings in the legislature to 32 Liberals, 23 Progressive Conservatives.
March 9, 2009 - Liberal Burt Paulin wins a seat previously held by Progressive Conservative Percy Mockler changing the standings in the legislature to 33 Liberals, 22 Progressive Conservatives.
December 25, 2009 - Premier Shawn Graham "says he's ready to fight the next election on his controversial plan to sell NB Power to Hydro-Québec."
January 4, 2010 - Justice Minister Michael Murphy unexpectedly resigns his seat to "spend more time with his family and return to practising law".
February 5, 2010 - Cabinet Minister Stuart Jamieson is forced to leave his cabinet post for suggesting that the NB power deal be put to a referendum.
March 24, 2010 - Premier Shawn Graham announces that the proposed sale of NB Power has been canceled.
May 10, 2010 - Premier Shawn Graham shuffles the New Brunswick cabinet. Bernard LeBlanc is reinstated as minister of justice, and also named the first minister responsible for public engagement. Brian Kenny is promoted to the tourism portfolio. Cheryl Lavoie enters cabinet as minister of state for seniors. Donald Arseneault gains title of deputy premier.
May 19, 2010 - Progressive Conservatives release Vision for Citizen Engagement and Responsible Government, a pre-campaign document that outlines the PC strategy to improve citizen engagement.
June 9, 2010 - People's Alliance officially forms the newest N.B. political party under the leadership of former Tory Kris Austin.
September 27, 2010 - David Alward is elected into office as Premier of New Brunswick.
* Party did not run candidates in the last election
The following is a list of ridings which were narrowly lost by the indicated party. For instance, under the Liberal column are the 10 seats in which they came closest to winning from the Conservatives, while under the Conservative column are the 10 seats in which they came closest to winning from the Liberals. Listed is the name of the riding, and the margin, in terms of percentage of the vote, by which the party lost.
These ridings are likely to be targeted by the specified party because the party lost them by a very slim margin in the 2006 election.
Up to 10 are shown, with a maximum margin of victory of 15%. No party or independent candidate, other than the Liberals or Progressive Conservatives, came within 15% of winning any seats.
* Indicates incumbent not running again.
To clarify further; this is a list of provincial general election winners with their party in parentheses, and their margin as a percentage of the vote over the party whose list the seat is on (not the same as the margin of victory if the party potentially "targeting" the seat in that list did not finish second in the previous election). "Won" means that the targeting party won the seat from the incumbent party. "Held" means the incumbent party held the seat.
The ridings of Moncton East, Moncton West, Restigouche-La-Vallée and Petitcodiac are also likely to be targeted by the Conservatives as all have switched to the Liberals since the 2006 election. Moncton East and Restigouche-La-Vallée were carried by the Liberals in by-elections while the MLAs for Moncton West and Petitcodiac crossed the floor from the PCs to the Liberals.
The following sitting MLAs have announced that they will not seek re-election.
Tony Huntjens, Progressive Conservative MLA for Charlotte-Campobello since 2006, and previously MLA for Western Charlotte from 1999 to 2006.
Roly MacIntyre, Liberal MLA for Saint John East since 2006, and previously MLA for Saint John Champlain from 1995 to 1999 and 2003 to 2006.
Jeannot Volpé, Progressive Conservative MLA for Madawaska-les-Lacs since 1995.
Joan MacAlpine-Stiles, Liberal MLA (Originally Progressive Conservative) for Moncton West since 1999.
Stuart Jamieson, Liberal MLA for Saint John-Fundy, first elected from 1987 to 1999, and re-elected in 2003.
Eugene McGinley, Liberal MLA, first elected from 1972 to 1978 as MLA for Bathurst, and re-elected in 2003 as MLA for Grand Lake-Gagetown.
Cy LeBlanc, Progressive Conservative MLA elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2003 in the Dieppe-Memramcook riding. He was re-elected again in 2006 in the Dieppe Centre-Lewisville riding.
Mike Murphy, Liberal MLA, Moncton North. Serving, Minister of Justice, former Minister of Health.
Candidates by riding
Legend
bold denotes cabinet minister or 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
^a - Collins won the seat in a by-election on March 5, 2007. The seat was previously held by Progressive Conservative former premier Bernard Lord.
^b - MacAlpine-Stiles crossed the floor to the Liberals on April 17, 2007. She previously sat as a Progressive Conservative.
^c - Stiles crossed the floor to the Liberals on April 17, 2007. He previously sat as a Progressive Conservative.
^d - Carr won the seat in a by-election on November 3, 2008. The seat was previously held by fellow Progressive Conservative Keith Ashfield.
^e - Paulin won the seat in a by-election on March 9, 2009. The seat was previously held by Progressive Conservative Percy Mockler.
