New Brunswick general election, 1999

New Brunswick general election, 1999

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55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick 28 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   LIB NDP Leader Bernard Lord Camille Thériault Elizabeth Weir Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic Leader since 1997 1997 1988 Leader's seat Moncton East Kent South Saint John Harbour Last election 6 48 1 Seats won 44 10 1 Seat change 38 38 0 Popular vote 209,008 146,934 34,526 Percentage 53.0% 37.3% 8.8% Swing 22.1% 14.3% 0.9%
Map of New Brunswick's ridings coloured in based on the winning parties and their popular vote
Premier before election Camille Thériault Liberal Premier-designate Bernard Lord Progressive Conservative

Camille Thériault
Liberal

Bernard Lord
Progressive Conservative

The 34th New Brunswick general election was held on June 7, 1999, to elect 55 members to the 54th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It marked the debut of both Camille Thériault and Bernard Lord as leaders of the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives respectively. It was Elizabeth Weir's third general election as leader of the New Democratic Party.

Thériault's Liberals were widely expected to win a fourth majority government from the outset of the campaign, and opinion polls showed them leading by double but Lord's Tories were able to capitalize on the issue of highway tolls and use it to portray the Liberals as arrogant. Lord made an effective wedge issue on tolls, saying they were unfair to people who lived near the toll booths and would have to drive through them daily and also as an example of arrogance and uncaring from the Liberals. Lord then pledged to implement 20 of his key promises in his first 200 days in office, he styled this as "200 Days of Change", a message which was modelled on the Contract with America and the Common Sense Revolution, and it resonated with voters. Another disadvantage for the Liberals was the loss of former premier Frank McKenna, who had retired after 10 years in office in 1997. McKenna was very popular and Thériault had difficulty shaking negative comparisons between himself and his predecessor.