Madawaska—Restigouche

Occupying the northwestern corner of New Brunswick, Madawaska—Restigouche stretches from the Maine border and the upper Saint John River valley through dense boreal forest to the Restigouche River and the Quebec frontier. Overwhelmingly francophone — approximately eighty per cent of residents claim French as their mother tongue — the riding is home to a distinctive Brayon culture in the Madawaska region that is neither Acadian nor Québécois, but a blend of both with its own accent, traditions, and identity.

Candidates

René Arseneault (Liberal) — A bilingual lawyer who established a legal practice in Edmundston with his wife Michèle Pelletier in 1996, Arseneault was the incumbent MP, first elected in 2015. Before entering politics, he gained attention for successfully challenging the requirement to swear an oath to the Queen when joining the New Brunswick bar, becoming the first lawyer in the province permitted to do so.

Nelson Fox (Conservative) — A provincial civil servant from Rivière-Verte, Fox took a leave of absence from his government position to contest the riding for the Conservatives.

Louis Bérubé (Green Party) — Bérubé ran for the Green Party, part of the party's effort to field candidates across all New Brunswick ridings.

Chad Betteridge (NDP) — Betteridge represented the NDP in the riding.

About the Riding

Edmundston, the riding's largest community with a population near 17,000, sits at the confluence of the Madawaska and Saint John rivers and serves as the commercial hub of the upper Saint John valley. The city is roughly ninety-five per cent francophone, the highest such proportion of any municipality in the province. Campbellton, at the riding's eastern end on the Restigouche River, faces Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec, across the water and functions as a regional centre for forestry, fishing, and rail transport. The forest products industry — sawmills, pulp operations, and related manufacturing — has historically been the economic backbone of both Madawaska and Restigouche counties, though mill closures and mechanization have reduced employment over the decades. Agriculture, particularly potato farming in the Saint John valley, remains significant. The riding also encompasses Grand Falls (Grand-Sault), where the Saint John River plunges over a dramatic gorge that once powered local hydroelectric generation. Federal concerns in the region during the 2019 campaign centred on forestry sector support, rural economic diversification, bilingual federal services, and infrastructure funding for aging bridges and highways connecting these geographically dispersed communities.