Miramichi

This riding is in central New Brunswick, to the west of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Communities include Miramichi, Newcastle, Belldune, Chatham, Doaktown, Blackville, Rogersville and several First Nations reserves.

Twenty-seven per cent of the riding's residents are listed as francophone in the 2006 census. The immigrant population is just two per cent.

Government services, retail and manufacturing play a major role here. Forestry industries such as Miramichi Pulp and Paper are also important. Unemployment is 18.5 per cent, the highest in the province, and the average family earns $54,096 a year, the lowest in the province.

The riding was established as Northumberland-Miramichi in 1955 and as Miramichi in 1986. It remained largely unchanged in the 1996 redistribution. In 2004, it added about 10,000 residents from Acadie-Bathurst and Madawaska-Restigouche. After a review by the Electoral Boundaries Commission, the residents from Acadie-Bathurst were returned to that riding.

Population: 53,844 (2006 census; a decrease of 4.6% since 2001)

Political History

In the past half-century, Miramichi has voted Liberal in all but one election. The current incumbent, Liberal Charles Isaac Hubbard, came to power in 1993.

His 1997 re-election was by just 3,354 votes, but in 2000, he beat his nearest challenger by a two-to-one margin. In 2004, he won by more than 6,000 votes over Conservative Michael Morrison. Hubbard beat Morrison again in 2006, but by a much slimmer margin; less than 2,800 votes.

Prior to Hubbard, the seat was held by Liberal Maurice Dionne. He won in 1974, 1978 and 1980, then was upset by Tory Bud Jardine in 1984. In 1988, Dionne staged a comeback, unseating Jardine by more than 5,000 votes.

• 1957-80 - LIB
• 1984 - PC
• Since 1988 - LIB