Understanding New Brunswick Politics: A Canadian Microcosm

New Brunswick is an interesting study in governance. It is one of Canada’s geographically smallest and least populated provinces, yet it contains all of the different historic, cultural, linguistic, political, economic, and social experiences and challenges found in the rest of the country. This volume questions what we can learn from New Brunswick’s post-2000 experience that can ultimately inform governance and policy-making elsewhere in Canada.

New Brunswick Politics begins by situating the province’s social, linguistic, and economic dynamics regionally and nationally. Contributors then examine the governments of Bernard Lord, Shawn Graham, David Alward, Brian Gallant, and Blaine Higgs and their policies to reveal how their governance and policy directions reflected broader trends in Canadian politics while, at other times, they provided opportunities for unique new policy directions to emerge. Key issues examined include the residual welfare state, language politics, healthcare reform, equity-denied groups, and housing.

This is the first comprehensive book on New Brunswick politics in sixty-five years, and it presents a province struggling to address questions of conflict, power, marginalization, and governance as it carves out its unique path in addressing pressing public policy questions.

Mario Levesque is a professor of Canadian politics and public policy at Mount Allison University.

Jamie Gillies is a professor of communications and public policy at St. Thomas University.

Stéphanie Collin is an associate professor of public policy at the Université de Moncton.