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Camille Henri Thériault (born February 25, 1955) served as the 29th
premier of New Brunswick The premier of New Brunswick (French (masculine): ''premier ministre du Nouveau-Brunswick'', or feminine: ''première ministre du Nouveau-Brunswick'') is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The ...
from 1998 to 1999.


Early life

The son of Joséphine Martin and Norbert Thériault, a former provincial cabinet minister and Canadian Senator, Camille Thériault was born in Baie-Sainte-Anne, New Brunswick, and graduated from École Régionale de Baie Sainte-Anne. He then obtained a bachelor of social science degree with a major in political science from the Université de Moncton.


Political career

Thériault was first elected to the
Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an ...
in the 1987 provincial election that saw the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...
, of which he was a member, win every seat in the province. Due to the unusual situation of leading a government with no
parliamentary opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...
,
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Frank McKenna Francis Joseph McKenna (born January 19, 1948) is a Canadian businessman and former politician and diplomat. He is currently Deputy Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank. He served as Canadian Ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2006. ...
named
backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
members of his
caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
to form a shadow cabinet. Thériault was the leader of this "unofficial opposition", which met daily when the house was in session to prepare questions of
Question Period Question Period (french: période des questions), known officially as Oral Questions (french: questions orales) occurs each sitting day in the House of Commons of Canada, in which members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers ( ...
of which the ministers would be given no notice. Following the 1991 election, some balance was restored to the legislature with the opposition parties holding 12 of 58 seats and the "unofficial opposition" was not continued. Thériault was named to cabinet as Minister of Fisheries. In 1994, he was appointed Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Thériault was re-elected in
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...
and became Minister of Economic Development—a key role in the McKenna government. When McKenna announced his resignation in 1997, Thériault, who was long expected to be the favourite in the race to succeed McKenna as Liberal leader, ceded the early position of
front-runner In politics, a front-runner (also spelled frontrunner or front runner) is a leader in an electoral race. While the front-runner in athletic events (the namesake of the political concept) is generally clear, a political front-runner, particularly i ...
to charismatic
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", ...
Edmond Blanchard Edmond P. Blanchard (May 31, 1954 – June 27, 2014) was a Canadian jurist and politician. Blanchard was born in Atholville, New Brunswick. He studied at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree ...
. However, Blanchard soon dropped out of the race. Thériault left cabinet to campaign for the leadership of the Liberals, as did his two opponents, Education Minister Bernard Richard and junior cabinet minister Greg Byrne. Byrne, a relative unknown before the race, caught momentum during the race, though Thériault managed to win on the first ballot. As leader of the governing Liberals, he soon became premier. He rejigged the cabinet upon being sworn-in, changing some departments and decreasing its overall size. He pledged to bring in many new programs, focussing on social services, in contrast to the fiscal conservatism of McKenna, but felt he should win a mandate of his own before instituting any major changes. The opposition Progressive Conservatives had themselves just chosen a leader, the young
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 ...
, an unknown with no political experience. Thériault waited for Lord to contest a seat for the legislature and get some experience in the House before calling a vote. In doing so, Thériault gave up one of the key advantages of the incumbency, letting it be widely known months in advance that the election would be held in June 1999. Thériault and his Liberals seemed to have underestimated Lord's Conservatives over whom they enjoyed a double-digit lead in early
opinion polls An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...
. In the early days of the campaign, Lord reversed his earlier position, shared with the government, supporting highway tolls on the new divided route from
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 ...
to
Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city has earned the nickname "Hub City" because o ...
. Lord used his new pledge to remove the tolls as the centrepiece of his campaign, he effectively used the issue as the prime example for the arrogance of the government and also incorporated his pledge into his "200 Days of Change" promise—20 key commitments Lord said he would implement within his first 200 days in office. Thériault largely ignored Lord's surging campaign as he felt the Liberals would easily cruise to victory—a feeling mirrored in polls right up until the last week. On June 7, election, the
Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...
won their largest victory ever, taking 44 of 55 seats. Thériault's concession speech was very gracious and was seen as probably his best of the campaign. He remarked that "the people have spoken, and the people are never wrong." In that election, the Liberals were reduced from 45 seats to just 10. Thériault stayed on as
leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
and was seen as effective in the role. Despite this, the Liberals lost two
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 use ...
s in early 2001 that had been vacated by former Liberal cabinet ministers moving to federal politics. In March of that year, Thériault resigned his seat and as leader of the Liberals. Following his resignation as party leader, then-
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Jean Chrétien appointed him to the Transportation Safety Board, and within the year he was named its chairman. In 2004, he was named president of the Mouvement des caisses populaires acadiennes (now UNI Financial Cooperation). Thériault mused briefly about running in the 2004 federal election but opted not to.


References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Theriault, Camille 1955 births Living people Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick Members of the Order of Canada Premiers of New Brunswick Acadian people People from Northumberland County, New Brunswick New Brunswick Liberal Association MLAs New Brunswick Liberal Association leaders 21st-century Canadian politicians