Norman McFarlane is a Canadian businessman and politician. He was the 64th Mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. He was first elected on May 10, 2004, and sworn into office on Tuesday, May 25. He was defeated in the 2008 New Brunswick municipal elections by

Ivan Court Ivan G. Court was the 65th mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick in Canada from May 28, 2008 – May 28, 2012. He was succeeded by Mel Norton. In 2014, Court attempted a run in provincial politics in the riding of Saint John Lancaster and said ...

. Born in

Apohaqui, New Brunswick Apohaqui ( ) is an unincorporated community in Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is located on the Kennebecasis River at the confluence of the Millstream River. Apohaqui straddles the Kennebecasis, which is also the Studholm and Sussex paris ...

, McFarlane worked for

Royal Insurance Royal Insurance Holdings plc was a large insurance business originating in Liverpool but based in London from the early 20th century. It merged with Sun Alliance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group. History Formation and e ...

in Saint John from 1953 to 1993, retiring as Branch Manager. Following his retirement from Royal Insurance, he became a private insurance

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

for a number of years. In the 1999 election, he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the provincial riding of Saint John Lancaster as a Progressive Conservative and shortly afterwards became the New Brunswick

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

. In 2000, he became minister for the new Department of Training and Employment Development, a portfolio which encompassed much of his old labour portfolio as well as some

social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...

programs and

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

s. McFarlane was defeated in the 2003 election and left the cabinet as a result. McFarlane lost his seat to

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Abel LeBlanc. McFarlane promptly returned to politics in 2004 when he was elected mayor of Saint John by defeating incumbent

Shirley McAlary Shirley A. McAlary is a Canadian politician, who served as the mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick from 1995 to 2004. She was defeated by Norm McFarlane in the 2004 municipal election. McAlary subsequently ran for a councillor-at-large seat in th ...

by a margin of over 25%. Ironically, one of McAlary's key backers was Abel LeBlanc. McFarlane faced severe and lasting criticism and allegations of corruption and incompetence for his role in granting Irving Oil tax concessions in 2005, concessions that have cost the City of Saint John approximately $75 million over ten years, with a potential total loss of over $180 million.

References

City of Saint John: Mayor McFarlane's Biography
(accessed February 6, 2007)

{{DEFAULTSORT:McFarlane, Norm Businesspeople from Saint John, New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick Living people Mayors of Saint John, New Brunswick 21st-century Canadian politicians Year of birth missing (living people)