New Brunswick New Democratic Party - Growth and Challenges

Growth and Challenges

During Little's time as leader, the party won its first seat ever in Tantramar in the 1982 New Brunswick election, and ran a full slate of candidates for the first time in the 1987 campaign. The period saw increasing popular support (surpassing 10% for the first time) and membership totals, numbering over 1,000 by the mid-1980s. The party failed to win any seats in 1987 due to the McKenna tidal wave, and Little resigned in 1988. He was followed by Elizabeth Weir, a lawyer and former party secretary, who won a close leadership contest against a labour activist. Weir's media presence and political stature gradually increased after becoming leader, and in the 1991 New Brunswick election she won a seat in Saint John South, the first provincial NDP leader to do so. During her time in the legislature, Weir advanced such issues as public auto insurance, pay equity, corporate welfare and poverty. She was re-elected in the new constituency of Saint John Harbour in the 1995 provincial election and won re-election twice more after, yet failed to add extra seats to the party caucus. In 2005, Weir resigned.

The period immediately following Weir's departure as leader was a difficult one for the party. Allison Brewer was elected as party leader in 2005, yet faced challenges due to her inability to speak French and a lack of pragmatic party policies. In the 2006 provincial election the NDP failed to run a full slate and saw their popular vote collapse. Brewer resigned soon after the election. Pat Hanratty took the helm as an interim leader, and was eventually replaced by Roger Duguay in 2007. Duguay's tenure as leader was dominated by a shakeup in the party's internal operations. Much of the old executive of the party was replaced in 2009 and a new team of modernizers began to gain prominence within the party. During the 2010 provincial election the party platform combined traditional NDP planks of opposition to corporate welfare, liberal social policy and prioritized education and health spending with a greater emphasis on the need for fiscal prudence and balanced budgets and cutting wasteful government spending. The party more than doubled its share of the vote, yet no candidate, including Duguay, won a seat. Having failed to become an MLA, Duguay resigned as leader in November 2010.