Campbellton-Dalhousie

One of only two vacant seats, Cambellton-Dalhousie is a left leaning riding but by no means a guaranteed seat for the Gallant Liberals. Though the former seat holder, Donald Arseneault, won the riding by nearly 3000 votes in 2014; the nature of his departure may negatively affect the Liberal Party in 2018.

Campbellton-Dalhousie is a newer riding made up of two former ridings which did swing from red to blue and back to red again. That may give some hope to Tory voters in the riding who saw the 2014 landslide with great dismay. The Liberal image may also be tarnished after Donald Arseneault accepted a position with Canada’s Building Trade Unions while attempting to hold his position as an MLA. The integrity commissioner found Arseneault innocent and verified that no laws were broken, but the appearance of a conflict of interest is undeniable. Gallant gave Arseneault an ultimatum to keep the CBTU post or keep his seat in the legislature; Arseneault chose the CBTU.

Replacing Donald Arseneault on the Liberal ticket is former Liberal Member of Parliament, Guy Arseneault. Guy has nine years experience in Ottawa having served from 1988 to 1997. After retiring from federal politics, Guy was active in education and with the teachers’ union. Always championing better standards for education in New Brunswick, Guy may be able to bring luster back to the Liberal name after Donald’s departure.

The Progressive Conservatives offer no slouch in their candidate Diane Cyr. Cyr has served on Campbellton’s city council for ten years. She’s an avid volunteer and festival coordinator. Realistically, in this riding, if anybody has a chance to beat the Liberals, it is Diane Cyr and the Progressive Conservatives.

The Green Party has selected an environmental faithful; Annie Theriault. A vocal opponent of New Brunswick’s failing environmental policies on social media, Theriault makes clear her disapproval of glyphosate herbicides, deforestation, and toxic dumping in her community of River Charlo. Her campaign has been off to a slow start, but she is surrounded by a passionate group of young environmentalists.

Therese Tremblay will represent the New Democrats in Cambellton-Dalhousie. Therese is a retired union and labour activist. She has worked with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Restigouche District Labour Council (RDLC).

Peoples Alliance have offered former small business owner and retiree Robert Boudreau. Boudreau has travelled across Canada and lived in several Canadian cities before returning home to New Brunswick. PANB didn’t offer in this riding in 2014; their presence this year may hurt Diane Cyr’s chances of building stronger numbers for the PC.

The Campbellton-Dalhousie Dogfight

Not every riding in New Brunswick has more than one truly standout candidate; but Campbellton-Dalhousie has three! Though it is a newly-minted-merged-riding, there is only one incumbent fighting for it. Prior to the amalgamation, one half of the riding was represented by Liberal Don Arsenault and the other by Progressive Conservative Greg Davis. Davis is not seeking re-election in the riding so the PC nomination will move to Joe Elias.

Donald Arsenault has a shockingly impressive profile. Despite being one of the youngest members of the legislature he has served as critic of the Office of Human Resources and the Department of Intergovernmental and International Relations. He later served as critic of tourism in 2005. When his party formed government Donald was made Minister of Natural Resources. Then, when Kelly Lamrock upset the entire city of Saint John and the education sector; Arsenault was made Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training, and Labour (to clean up Lamrock’s mess). As far as education goes; Arsenault has a long series of degrees, certificates, and diplomas in the fields of buisness, finance, and economics. This guy is a force to be reckoned with.

Not to be outdone, the New Democrats offer up Jamie O’Rourke. O’Rourke comes from a very political family (his mother used to work in the department of finance and his father was a deputy minister in the 1980’s). O’Rourke received an education from NBCC in farming and economics. He then went on to study at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. O’Rourke also gives much of his time to a number of charitable causes including: Elementary Literacy Inc, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Community Inclusion Network, and many environmental committees and groups. O’Rourke is also credited with helping in the design and drafted of some key NDP policies.

The third of the sterling candidates is Progressive Conservative Joe Elias. He comes from a family with a successful business background (they ran the Elias Store for 40 years in Campbellton). He received an education from Polyvalente Roland Pepin, Dalhousie University, Universite de Moncton, and the University of Ottawa.

The Green Party is also running in the riding. Heather Wood, who has no profile on the Green Party site, Linked In, and has received virtually no coverage from any major media outlets, is the candidate. Sadly, it would appear that she is the Green Party’s “lame duck” candidate. She’s running just to drum up support in the region for the next election.