Bernard Lord
Bernard Lord Moncton East | |
---|---|
In office October 19, 1998 – January 31, 2007 | |
Preceded by | Ray Frenette |
Succeeded by | Chris Collins |
Personal details | |
Born | Roberval, Quebec, Canada | September 27, 1965
Political party | Progressive Conservative |
Spouse |
Diane Lord (m. 1990) |
Residence(s) | Moncton, New Brunswick |
Bernard Lord ONB KC (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.[1]
Early life
Lord was born in
After graduating from high school, he earned a bachelor's degree in social science with a major in economics, as well as a bachelor's degree in common law, from the
Election as leader
In 1997, Lord was elected leader of the PC Party of New Brunswick and then became the
Premier
On June 7, 1999, Lord's PC party overcame an early deficit in the polls to pull out a landslide victory in the provincial general election, winning 44 of 55 seats in the legislature. At just 33 years of age, Lord (on June 21) became one of the youngest Premiers in Canadian history.
Using the successful tactics from the 1994
In 2002, Lord delivered what the media and others hailed as an electrifying speech at the national Progressive Conservative Party of Canada convention in Edmonton, Alberta, which started speculation that he might run for a job in federal politics, specifically, replacing Joe Clark as federal PC leader. A very strong movement of influential conservatives erupted after Edmonton to lobby the Premier into federal politics, everything from a website to a coast to coast organization[6] was being set up to woo the Premier to leave Fredericton and head to Ottawa.[7] A short time later, Lord shot down any notions that that might happen, choosing instead to remain focused on provincial politics and the 2003 New Brunswick election.
That election was not kind to Lord, with the Liberals using the issue of rising car insurance to catch the PC Party off guard. The Party wasn't able to regain its footing until relatively late in the campaign, and barely held on to a majority over the
Lord was again courted for federal politics in late 2003, when the PC Party of Canada and the Canadian Alliance merged into the Conservative Party of Canada. In the end, Lord opted to stay in New Brunswick due to his young family and the fact that his departure would force his party into a minority government situation.
In 2004, Lord's government came under fire over a variety of unpopular stances, most notably changes to health care. These included closures of beds at hospitals in
On August 10, 2006, Lord announced that on August 19, he would be calling an election for September 18. This election call was in response to the loss of a caucus member, Peter Mesheau, who announced his intention to resign to work in the private sector. The resignation would have caused Lord to slip into a minority government and the subsequent by-election could have flipped the balance of power to the Liberals. Lord decided that instead of a by-election deciding the fate of his government, he would let the people choose. Some observers saw Lord's election call as a bold move considering his popularity numbers had only recently started to surpass the Liberal Leader.
In the head-to-head campaign that followed, Lord lost the government to the Liberals, who took 29 seats to 26 for the Conservatives. The Tories did manage to win the popular vote, besting the Liberals 47.5% to 47.2%. Lord left the Premier's Office on October 3, 2006.
On December 13, 2006, Lord announced that he was resigning as
Post-premiership
After leaving politics, Lord took a position as senior counsel with the law firm
while continuing to maintain his residence in Fredericton.On December 3, 2007, Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, appointed Lord as head of the Bilingualism Committee. He reviewed Canada's Official Language Laws, and he made suggestions where improvements can be made.[9] In December 2007, Lord was named as the president of the 2009 CHL Memorial Cup selection-committee.
In October 2008, it was announced that Lord would be appointed as president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, a
Lord was named in 2013 to the board of Ontario's public utility provider, Ontario Power Generation, and he was appointed as board chair in March 2014 by the government of Kathleen Wynne. He was tasked with cutting expenses after an auditor's report that came out late in the term of his predecessor, Jake Epp, criticized the agency for cost overruns and excessive executive wages and bonuses.[1]
On June 15, 2016, Lord was named as the Chief Executive Officer of Medavie Blue Cross effective September 1, 2016.[11]
Honours
- In 2007, he was awarded the Order of New Brunswick[12]
- Grand Officier de l'Ordre de la Pleiade (La Francophonie)
- Queen's Counsel, 2011
References
- ^ a b "Former N.B. premier Bernard Lord named OPG chair". Toronto Star. March 7, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
- ^ "Ralph Frank Lord (1928-2015)". 2015-09-22.
- ^ "Marie-Émilie Morin-Lord (1930-2015) | HommageNB". Archived from the original on 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
- ^ "CBC - New Brunswick Votes 2003". Archived from the original on 2003-05-28.
- ^ a b Trichur, Rita (December 22, 2012). "A wireless speaker with a political calling", The Globe and Mail, p. B3.
- ^ Shawn Berry, "Tory Youth leader in P.E.I. backs Lord for federal leadership". NB Telegraph-Journal, A1, September 9th 2002
- ISBN 0864923767.
- ^ "Lord quits as PC leader, resigns seat". CBC News. 13 December 2006. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ^ pm.gc.ca: "Prime Minister announces Bernard Lord will lead Cross-Canada Official Languages consultations" Archived December 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Bernard Lord Named President & CEO of Wireless Industry Association". Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association press release. October 24, 2008. Archived from the original on May 24, 2009. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
- ^ "Bernard Lord appointed as Medavie CEO". web.medavie.bluecross.ca. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
- ^ "Order of New Brunswick recipients announced".