Brenda Olive Fowlie (born May 15, 1953) is a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. She was formerly a member of the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country or city. They are often contrasted with the Executive (government), executive and Judiciary, ...

and a member of the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. A resident of

Quispamsis, New Brunswick Quispamsis (, sometimes shortened to ) is a Kings County suburb of Saint John, New Brunswick, located to the northeast in the lower Kennebecasis River valley. Its population was 18,768 as of the 2021 census. History The original inhabita ...

, Fowlie was first elected to the legislature in the 1999 election and was re-elected in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

by a very narrow margin. She was originally declared the winner in 2003 by a margin of 16 votes and a

recount An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election that is used to determine the correctness of an initial count. Recounts will often take place if the initial vote tally during an election is extremely close. Election reco ...

delayed the swearing in of the

and the first session of the legislature. The results of the election were so close that Fowlie's uncertain victory meant the difference between a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

for her

Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a centre-right, conservative political party in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The party has its origins in the pre-Canadian confederation Conservative Party that opposed the granti ...

and a tie in seats with the PCs and the

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

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 ...

. The recount reaffirmed her victory increasing her margin to 18 votes. Prior to her election to the legislature, Fowlie had been a member of her local

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

and was elected to

Quispamsis Quispamsis (, sometimes shortened to ) is a Kings County suburb of Saint John, New Brunswick, located to the northeast in the lower Kennebecasis River valley. Its population was 18,768 as of the 2021 census. History The original inhabita ...

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

in 1995 and re-elected in 1998. She wrote a column for local newspapers and hosted several news and public affairs programs on

public access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

. She was sworn into cabinet as the Minister of Environment and Local Government on June 27, 2003 and resigned from cabinet on July 21, 2005 after the provincial

ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

reported she had violated provincial privacy laws when she used personal information, from her department, on fellow MLA

Stuart Jamieson Stuart Jamieson (born October 22, 1951 in Saint John, New Brunswick) was a politician in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. A self-employed carpenter, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in 1987 and re-elected in 1991 ...

to attack his character in the legislature and to reporters. She made a quick political recovery however when she was re-added to cabinet on February 14, 2006 as

Minister of Energy An energy minister is a position in many governments responsible for energy production and regulation, developing governmental energy policy, scientific research, and natural resources conservation. In some countries, environmental responsibilities ...

. She was defeated in her bid for a third term in the 2006 election and thus left the legislature and the cabinet.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fowlie, Brenda 1953 births Living people Canadian newspaper journalists Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick Women MLAs in New Brunswick People from Kings County, New Brunswick New Brunswick municipal councillors Women municipal councillors in Canada Canadian women journalists 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women government ministers of Canada Canadian women non-fiction writers