Acadie—Bathurst

Infobox Canada electoral district
province = New Brunswick


caption = "Acadie—Bathurst" in relation to other New Brunswick ridings
fed-status = active
fed-district-number = 13001
fed-created = 1867
fed-abolished =
fed-election-first = 1867
fed-election-last = 2006
fed-rep = Yvon Godin
fed-rep-link =
fed-rep-party = NDP
fed-rep-party-link = New Democratic Party
demo-census-date = 2006
demo-pop = 78948
demo-electors = 67608
demo-electors-date = 2006
demo-area = 4889
demo-cd = Gloucester, Restigouche
demo-csd = "Cities:"
Bathurst
"Towns:"
Allardville
Beresford
Caraquet
Lamèque
Shippagan
Tracadie—Sheila
"Villages:"
Bas-Caraquet, Bertrand, Grande-Anse, Le Goulet, Maisonnette, New Bandon, Nigadoo, Paquetville, Petit-Rocher, Pointe-Verte, Saint-Isidore, Saint-Léolin, Sainte-Marie—Saint-Raphaël
"Parishes:"
Beresford, Bathurst, Caraquet, Inkerman, Paquetville, Saint-Isidore, Saumarez, Shippagan
"First Nations reserves:"
Pabineau 11, Pokemouche 13

Acadie—Bathurst (formerly Gloucester) is a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1867. Its population in 2001 was 76,392.

The riding has mostly been held by the Liberal Party thanks to strong support from the francophone Acadian population. There is also a notable Red Tory tendency in the riding that enabled the former Progressive Conservative Party to win on occasion.

In the 1997 federal election, the New Democratic Party's Yvon Godin won an unexpected victory over powerful Liberal cabinet minister Doug Young, mostly due to unpopular Liberal cuts to Employment Insurance. Godin has held the riding ever since.

In the 2004 election, he ran against Serge Rouselle of the Liberals, Joel Bernard, of the Conservatives, and Mario Lanteigne of the Greens. Despite stiff competition, the popular Godin retained by a wide margin on election day.

Geography

The district includes eastern Gloucester County, and the communities along Nepisiguit Bay. The neighbouring ridings are Miramichi (electoral district) and Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

History

The electoral district was created at confederation in 1867, and was known as "Gloucester" until its name was changed in 1990.

In 2004, there were some legal problems regarding the 2003 boundaries. The following is from the Elections Canada website:

:In May 2004, the Federal Court of Canada made its decision in Raîche v. Canada (Attorney General), concerning a portion of the electoral boundary between the ridings of Miramichi and Acadie–Bathurst. The Court held that, in transferring certain parts of parishes from the riding of Acadie–Bathurst to Miramichi, the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for New Brunswick erred in its application of the rules governing the preparation of its recommendations. The new boundaries commission was created under Part I of the Inquiries Act in response to this court decision.

The current boundaries reverted back to the ones used in the 1996 representation after the 2006 election.

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following Members of Parliament:

Election results

Acadie—Bathurst

-
align="left" colspan=2|NDP hold
align="right"|Swing
align="right"| -5.81%
align="right"

align="left" colspan=2|NDP hold
align="right"|Swing
align="right"| +12.2%
align="right"

Change from 2000 is based on redistributed results. Conservative Party change is based on the combination of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party totals.

Gloucester

Change for Progressive Conservative candidate Albany Robichaud from 1945 are based on his results running as an Independent.

Change for Independent candidate Albany Robichaud from 1940 are based on his results running as a National Government candidate.

The "National Government" was the temporary name of the Conservative Party for the 1940 elections, and changes from 1935 are based on the results of the Conservative Party.

See also

* List of Canadian federal electoral districts
* Past Canadian electoral districts

External links

* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&rid=243&Include= Riding history for Gloucester from the] Library of Parliament
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=865 Riding history for Acadie-Bathurst from the] Library of Parliament