Peter Mesheau (born in

Sackville, New Brunswick Sackville is a town in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. It is home to Mount Allison University, a primarily undergraduate liberal arts university. Historically based on agriculture, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, the economy is now driven ...

) is a

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 ...

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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He represented the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

of Tantramar in 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, ...

from 1997 to 2006. Mesheau was elected in a tight three-way race to represent Tantramar in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 1997 to replace

Marilyn Trenholme Counsell Marilyn Trenholme Counsell (born October 22, 1933) is a Canadian lecturer, doctor and politician. Counsell was a Canadian Senator and Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick from 1997 to 2003. Early life and career She was born in Baie Verte, N ...

who had resigned to become

Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick The lieutenant governor of New Brunswick (, in French: ''Lieutenant-gouverneur'' (if male) or ''Lieutenante-gouverneure'' (if female) ''du Nouveau-Brunswick'') is the viceregal representative in New Brunswick of the , who operates distinctly wit ...

. Mesheau, a Progressive Conservative received 34.1% of the vote to 33.2% for

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 ...

candidate Ross Monk to 30.2% for

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

Heather Patterson. The leader of the

Confederation of Regions Party The Confederation of Regions Party (CoR) was a right-wing politics, right-wing federal list of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada founded in 1984 by Elmer Knutson. It was founded as a successor to the Western Canada Federation ...

Greg Hargrove Gregory James Hargrove (born March 4, 1959) is a former politician in New Brunswick, Canada. He led the New Brunswick Confederation of Regions Party from 1995-1999. Born in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1959, he was elected to the Legislative ...

, was running as a

parachute candidate A parachute candidate, or carpetbagger in the United States, is a pejorative term for an election candidate who does not live in, and has little connection to, the area they are running to represent. The allegation is thus that the candidate is b ...

and finished a distant fourth and last place with 2.5%. The margin of victory between Mesheau and Monk was only 39 votes. Mesheau's victory happened in the midst of a leadership campaign for his party which was won shortly thereafter by

Bernard Lord Bernard Lord (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer, business executive and former politician. He served as the 30th premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006. Lord was appointed as board chair of Ontario Power Generation in 2014. Early ...

whom Mesheau supported. As a result, Mesheau was appointed to the high-profile role of Health Critic in the shadow cabinet. The Progressive Conservatives won the 1999 provincial election and Mesheau was named to 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 ...

as Minister of Economic Development, Tourism and Culture. Lord restructured the government in 2000 and Mesheau took over the new

Department of Investments and Exports Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

. In October 2001 Mesheau was promoted to the high-profile position of

finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

. Following the 2003 election, Mesheau was

shuffled Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. __TOC__ Techniques Overha ...

Business New Brunswick The Department of Economic Development is a department in the Government of New Brunswick. It is charged with stimulating economic prosperity and global competitiveness in the province. Created in 1944 during war time as the Department of Indust ...

, another department which had been carved out of his old Economic Development portfolio and one which had since annexed his old Investment and Exports department. In February 2006, he left the cabinet altogether as a part of a shuffle in anticipation for the 56th New Brunswick general election. Mesheau said he had left willingly as he did not intend to run for another term. Later in 2006, Mesheau became a part of a media frenzy when it was learned that he had found a job in the private sector and intended to resign his seat in the legislature. His resignation would create a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

and Lord said he would call an election - 13 months earlier than scheduled - rather than face a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...

. The election was held on September 18, 2006 and though the Progressive Conservatives lost the government to the Liberals, the Tories retained Mesheau's Tantramar riding electing

Mike Olscamp Michael Robert Olscamp is a politician in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, and a retired teacher. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2006 election as the Progressive Conservative MLA for Tantramar. He di ...

Sources

Mesheau's government bioResults of the 1997 Tantramar by-election
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesheau, Peter Living people Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs People from Sackville, New Brunswick 21st-century Canadian politicians Finance ministers of New Brunswick Year of birth missing (living people)