Beauséjour

Beauséjour covers the southeastern shore of New Brunswick, running from the Northumberland Strait coastline through Kent and Westmorland counties. The riding includes the Acadian beach town of Shediac, the bilingual communities of Cap-Pelé and Bouctouche, the university town of Sackville, and portions of the fast-growing city of Dieppe on the outskirts of Moncton.

Candidates

Dominic LeBlanc (Liberal) — LeBlanc was the son of former Governor General Roméo LeBlanc, who had himself represented the predecessor riding of Westmorland-Kent as a Liberal MP from 1972 to 1984. The younger LeBlanc earned degrees from the University of Toronto, the University of New Brunswick's law school, and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. He worked as a special adviser to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien from 1993 to 1996 before winning the riding in the 2000 general election. By 2015, he was serving his fifth consecutive term and was one of the most senior Liberals in New Brunswick. When the Conservative wave swept the province in 2011, Beauséjour was the only New Brunswick seat to remain Liberal.

Hélène Boudreau (NDP) — Boudreau was a registered nurse with experience in both the public and private health care sectors. She had served as a municipal councillor in Dieppe from 2008 to 2012 and ran for mayor of Dieppe in that city's 2012 election. She also carried the NDP banner in the provincial riding of Memramcook-Tantramar during the 2014 New Brunswick election.

Ann Bastarache (Conservative) — Bastarache was a realtor who ran for the Conservatives in a riding where the party had struggled to compete against the Liberal incumbent.

Kevin King (Green Party) — King represented the Green Party in the four-candidate field.

About the Riding

Beauséjour is one of New Brunswick's most heavily Acadian ridings, with roughly sixty-three per cent of its population reporting French as their mother tongue. The riding's economy is driven by a mix of seasonal industries — fishing, seafood processing, and tourism — alongside the bilingual service-sector economy centred on Dieppe and the greater Moncton area. Shediac, known as the "Lobster Capital of the World," hosts the annual Shediac Lobster Festival, one of the largest community festivals in Atlantic Canada. Bouctouche was home to one of the region's largest clam-packing operations. Sackville, at the riding's southern end, is the home of Mount Allison University, a nationally ranked undergraduate institution. The seasonal employment cycle and access to employment insurance benefits were persistent federal concerns, echoing issues across northeastern New Brunswick. The Confederation Bridge, connecting the riding to Prince Edward Island, underscored the area's role as a transportation crossroads in the Maritimes. LeBlanc's deep family connections to the riding and his seniority within the Liberal caucus made Beauséjour one of the safest Liberal seats in the country heading into 2015.