1995 New Brunswick general election

Results of the 1995 election

The 1995 election in the Canadian province of New Brunswick marked the debut of Bernard Valcourt as a provincial politician, and as leader of a reinvigorated Progressive Conservative Party. Frank McKenna sought a third term for his Liberal government, while the Confederation of Regions (CoR) party struggled to survive after considerable internal strife. Elizabeth Weir tried to expand her New Democratic Party's foothold in the legislature.

Valcourt, a popular politician from Edmundston, had served as an MP from 1984 to 1993, and served in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell. The New Brunswick Tories had been in shambles for the better part of a decade. They were shut out of the legislature in 1987, and won only 3 seats and third place in 1991. The internal meltdown of the CoR party had left them lots of room on the right, and polls showed that there would be a competitive race.

The Liberals, however, were again victorious. McKenna's personal popularity combined with vote-splitting between the Conservatives and the remanents of CoR allowed the Liberals to maintain a large majority while the Tories managed only 6 seats. The combined PC-CoR vote exceeded that of the Liberals in an addtional 10 ridings (Albert, Fundy Isles, Kings East, Mactaquac, Petitcodiac, Saint John-Fundy, Southwest Miramichi, Victoria-Tobique, Western Charlotte and Woodstock).

Also of note, there were 55 ridings in this election, as opposed to 58 in previous elections. It was the first time boundaries were redrawn in New Brunswick since 1974.

Results

Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats				Popular Vote
				1991	Dissolution	Elected	% Change	#	%	Change	Liberal	Frank McKenna	55	46	43	48	+4.3%	201,150	51.63%	+4.52%	Progressive Conservative	Bernard Valcourt	55	3	6	6	+100%	120,247	30.87%	+10.17%	New Democratic	Elizabeth Weir	55	1	1	1	-	37,579	9.65%	-1.13%	Confederation of Regions	Greg Hargrove	36	8	6	0	-100%	27,684	7.11%	-14.09%	Natural Law	Christopher Collrin	17	-	*	-	-	1,267	0.33%	*	Independents		8	-	2	-	-	1,635	0.42%	+0.21%
Total			226	58	58	55	-5.45%	389,562	100%	-5.65%

* Natural Law did not contest the 1991 election.