The

New Brunswick Liberal Association The New Brunswick Liberal Association (french: Association libérale du Nouveau-Brunswick), more popularly known as the New Brunswick Liberal ''Party'' or Liberal Party of New Brunswick, is one of the two major provincial political parties in New ...

held a leadership convention on August 6, 2022, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, as a result of Kevin Vickers' announcement on September 14, 2020, that he was resigning as party leader. Vickers resignation followed the outcome of the

2020 New Brunswick general election The 2020 New Brunswick general election was held on September 14, 2020, to elect members of the 60th New Brunswick Legislature. The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick, led by Blaine Higgs, won a majority government. The writs of el ...

which saw the Progressive Conservative party, under

Blaine Higgs Blaine Myron Higgs (born March 1, 1954) is a Canadian politician who is the 34th and current premier of New Brunswick since 2018 and leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party (PC Party) since 2016. Higgs graduated from the U ...

, form a majority government and the Liberal Party lose three seats. The deadline for candidates to file their intention to run for the leadership was June 15, 2022. Voting by party members for the leadership occurred at a free in-person convention as well as remotely via phone and internet connected device and used a ranked ballot system.

Susan Holt Susan Holt is a Canadian politician, who has been the leader of the New Brunswick Liberal Association since August 6, 2022, leader of the Opposition since May 9, 2023, and MLA for Bathurst East-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore since April 24, 2023. Holt ...

was elected leader on the third ballot.

Candidates

Qualified

Donald Arseneault

Donald Arseneault Donald Arseneault (born in Dalhousie, New Brunswick) is a New Brunswick politician. He is the former Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick for the riding of Dalhousie-Restigouche East. At the time one of the youngest mem ...

was the MLA for

Campbellton-Dalhousie Campbellton-Dalhousie is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada. It was contested in the 2014 general election, having been created in the 2013 redistribution of electoral boundaries by combini ...

(2014–2017) and for

Dalhousie-Restigouche East Dalhousie-Restigouche East (french: Dalhousie-Restigouche-est) was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Poli ...

(2003–2014). He served as Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour (2008–2010, 2016–2017),

Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs The minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities (french: Ministre des Affaires intergouvernementales) is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the federal government's relations wit ...

(2016–2017), Minister of Energy and Mines (2014–2016),

Deputy Premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

(2010), and

Minister of Natural Resources The minister of natural resources () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In addition to NRCan, the minister oversees the federal government's natural resources portfolio ...

(2006–2008). :Candidacy announced: October 28, 2021 :Campaign website:

Robert Gauvin

Robert Gauvin Robert Gauvin is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2018 New Brunswick general election. He currently represents the riding of Shediac Bay-Dieppe as a member of the New Brunswick Liberal Ass ...

is the MLA for

Shediac Bay-Dieppe Shediac Bay-Dieppe (french: Baie-de-Shediac-Dieppe) is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada. It was first contested in the 2014 general election, having been created in the 2013 redistributio ...

(2020–present) and was previously the MLA for

Shippagan-Lamèque-Miscou Shippagan-Lamèque-Miscou is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada. It was previously named Shippagan-les-Îles from 1974 to 1995 and Lamèque-Shippagan-Miscou from 1995 to 2014. Its boundaries w ...

(2018–2020). Elected in 2018 as a Progressive Conservative, he served in the Higgs government as

(2018–2020), Minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, and

Minister responsible for La Francophonie The Minister responsible for La Francophonie is a member of the Canadian Cabinet who handles relations with the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, an international community of francophone nations considered the French equivalent of ...

(2018–2020) before resigning from cabinet and the PC caucus in February 2020 in protest of the government's health reforms. :Candidacy announced: January 30, 2022 :Campaign website:

T. J. Harvey

T. J. Harvey Thomas J. Harvey (born August 23, 1982) is a Canadian Liberal politician who represented the riding of Tobique—Mactaquac in the House of Commons of Canada from 2015 to 2019. On February 19, 2019, Harvey announced that he would not run in the ...

was the MP for

Tobique—Mactaquac Tobique—Mactaquac is a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Political geography The district includes the counties of Carleton and Victoria as well a ...

(2015–2019). :Candidacy announced: June 19, 2021 :Campaign website:

Susan Holt

is a

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

tech executive, the former President of the New Brunswick Business Council, and a former advisor to Premier

Brian Gallant Brian Alexander Gallant (born April 27, 1982) is a Canadian politician who served as the 33rd premier of New Brunswick from October 7, 2014, until November 9, 2018. Of Acadian and Dutch descent, Gallant practised as a lawyer before winning the Li ...

. In

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, Holt ran for the Liberals in

Fredericton South Fredericton South (french: Fredericton-Sud) is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada. It was first contested in the 2014 general election, having been created in the 2013 redistribution of ele ...

, losing to

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

leader

David Coon David Charles Coon (born 28 October 1956 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2014 provincial election to represent the provincial electoral district of Fredericton S ...

. Holt is the first woman to ever run for the New Brunswick Liberal leadership. :Candidacy announced: February 14, 2022 :Campaign website:

Withdrew or failed to qualify

Seamus Byrne

Seamus Byrne is a Saint John businessperson. Byrne failed to meet the May 2 deadline to pay the $30,000 entrance fee and submit the required 50 signatures of Liberal members willing to support him and was disqualified from the race. Though he initially fought the ruling, claiming that the requirements were anti-democratic, and on May 17 was given a two-day extension to submit the entrance fee and signatures, he suspended his campaign on May 20 after discovering another problem with his entrance application. :Candidacy announced: December 17, 2021 :Candidacy suspended: May 20, 2022 :Campaign website:

Declined

Roger Melanson Roger Melanson is a former Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2010 provincial election, and Leader of the Opposition. He represented the electoral district of Dieppe as a member of the Lib ...

(Interim leader, MLA for

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newha ...

)

Results

Results are in percentage of points with 100 points allotted to each of 49 ridings, with a total of 4,900 points available in the election. A

preferential ballot The term ranked voting (also known as preferential voting or ranked choice voting) refers to any voting system in which voters rank their candidates (or options) in a sequence of first or second (or third, etc.) on their respective ballots. Ran ...

was used. First Ballot *

33.9% *

32.12% *

19.76% *

14.22% :''Aresenault eliminated'' Second Ballot *

39.58% *

36.76% *

23.67% :''Gauvin eliminated'' Third Ballot *

51.67% *

48.33% :''Holt elected''

References

{{reflist 2022 elections in Canada New Brunswick Liberal Association Leadership elections 2022 in New Brunswick New Brunswick Liberal Association leadership election