NDP leader gears up in Tracadie-Sheila for election

January 7, 2010

BATHURST - Roger Duguay is enjoying a break.Provincial New Democratic Party Leader Roger Duguay speaks to reporters in this file photo. Duguay, who has been campaigning since last summer for the provincial election scheduled for Sept. 27 thinks the NDP chances with the electorate have been improved by the Liberals’ proposed sale of NB Power to Hydro-Québec.

After attending 340 events and travelling an estimated 120,000 kilometres since taking over as head of New Brunswick's New Democratic Party, Duguay says he took time to reboot over the holidays before beginning the long campaign stretch leading up to the fall 2010 election.

The former Catholic priest is hoping, for the first time in four tries, to win a seat in the provincial legislature.

"Every time I run, I get stronger, and my chances of winning increase," Duguay said in an interview this week.

A win for Duguay, who took over as party leader a little over two years ago, would mean the first provincial seat for the NDP since former leader Elizabeth Weir stepped down in 2005.

This time around, Duguay is a candidate in Tracadie-Sheila, a riding currently held by Conservative MLA Claude Landry.

In an effort to win the seat, Duguay says his party is planning to focus much of its energy and limited funds on the riding.

Duguay expects his chances will be helped by the Liberal government's proposed sale of NB Power to Hydro-Québec, a deal that his party opposes.

He says the NDP is the only party that is clearly against the deal.

"Right now, I think the Conservatives are opportunists," he said. "They are fighting against it, but what will happen if they are in power?"

There was optimism within the party last fall when, buoyed by the NDP's summer election victory in neighbouring Nova Scotia, Duguay's party polled its highest level of support in 20 years.

A September poll by Corporate Research Associates showed the New Brunswick NDP at 22 per cent support among eligible voters.

But another poll released by the same company in December showed that support for the NDP had slipped back to 14 per cent with Duguay as the preferred leader at eight per cent, down from 12 per cent in September.

Despite the drop, Duguay says he's not discouraged.

"Polls are like the tide - they go up and they go down," he said.

"One thing is for sure, since the provincial election in 2006, our party is the one who has progressed the most."

Duguay says he has been campaigning for the Sept. 27 provincial election since last summer, going door-to-door and organizing rallies.

"I have visited 600 families in the riding already and I plan to visit all 4,100 before the election," he said.

"You can put advertisements in the paper or make pamphlets, but in my experience, door-to-door (campaigning) is the most efficient."

Duguay previously ran in the 2006 provincial election, placing third in the riding of Miramichi Bay-Neguac to current Liberal MLA Carmel Robichaud.

He also ran in the 1991 and 1999 elections in the ridings of Caraquet and Centre-Peninsule, respectively, losing both times.

By Matthew Sherwood, printed in the Telegraph-Journal Archives on January 7, 2010