- Bernard Richard
Bernard Richard (born
April 11 ,1951 in Toronto,Ontario ) is a Canadiansocial worker ,lawyer , andpolitician in the Province of New Brunswick.Raised and educated in
Cap-Pelé, New Brunswick , Richard earned aBachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of Moncton and aBachelor of Laws degree from theUniversity of New Brunswick . He first entered politics as a young man, running unsuccessfully in Shediac for theLegislative Assembly of New Brunswick as aParti Acadien candidate in the 1974 election. He became involved in municipal politics in thevillage of Cap-Pélé.His second entry into provincial politics was in the 1991 election, this time as a Liberal. He won. He was re-elected in 1995, 1999 and 2003.He was named to cabinet in
1995 and left in1998 to contest the leadership of the Liberal Party. He was unsuccessful in his leadership bid and was returned to the cabinet position byCamille Thériault who was the victor in the contest. Richard managed to be re-election by the largest margin of any candidate in the 1999 election, despite the fact that his party suffering a massive defeat.When Thériault resigned as leader in
2001 , Richard briefly considered another run but instead becameinterim leader . WhenShawn Graham became leader in2002 , Richard was madehouse leader and finance critic, two key roles in the opposition. Richard maintained these roles after the 2003 election.The Progressive Conservative government of
Bernard Lord had won a bare majority in 2003, winning 28 of 55 seats and were anxious to strengthen their position. After first attempting to convince a Liberal to sit as speaker and then offering cabinet positions and other appointments to several Liberals, Richard accepted the post of provincialombudsman , thus resigning his seat and increasing theTory majority to 28/54 for the ensuing year before aby-election was held.On
November 6 2007 , New Brunswick news outlets reported that the Progressive Conservatives were encouraging Richard to leave his post as ombudsman and return to politics as leader of their party. [Daniel McHardie. "To Run or not to run", "Telegraph-Journal", November 6, 2007, page A1. [http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/actualities/article/118914] ]-
References
* [http://www.gnb.ca/0073/bio-e.asp Biography, Office of the Ombudsman, New Brunswick]
s-ttl|title=Leader of the New Brunswick Liberal Party
years=2001-2002 (interim)###@@@KEYEND@@@###
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