The election marked the debut of both Camille Thériault and Bernard Lord as leaders of the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives respectively. It was Elizabeth Weir's third general election as leader of the New Democratic Party. Thériault's Liberals were widely expected to win a fourth majority government from the outset of the campaign, and opinion polls showed them leading by double but Lord's Tories were able to capitalize on the issue of highway tolls and use it to portray the Liberals as arrogant. Lord made an effective wedge issue on tolls, saying they were unfair to people who lived near the toll booths and had to drive through them daily and also as an example of arrogance and uncaring from the Liberals. Lord then pledged to implement 20 of his key promises in his first 200 days in office, he styled this as "200 Days of Change", a message which was modelled on the Contract with America and the Common Sense Revolution, and it resonated with voters. Another disadvantage for the Liberals was the loss of former premier Frank McKenna, who had retired after 10 years in office in 1997. McKenna was very popular and Thériault had difficulty shaking negative comparisons between himself and his predecessor. Following a huge surge in the final weeks of the campaign, Lord became Premier with his party winning its largest majority in the history of New Brunswick. Lord's tories also won the majority of Acadian seats, something the PC Party in New Brunswick had struggled to do in the past. Lord's win was 44 of 55 seats, at 80% a huge majority, was viewed as remarkable by all parties. Thériault, who came off in the campaign as cold and uncharismatic, made what pundits thought was his best speech of the campaign on election night when he said "the people of New Brunswick have spoken, and the people of New Brunswick are never wrong". However, Lord's massive victory caused a domino effect which resulted in the defeat of many Liberals who had been viewed by pundits as undefeatable.
Summary of results
Narrow wins and losses
A lot of Liberals, many high profile, lost their seats by very narrow margins while some barely survived. Below is a list of the 14 ridings decided by less than 10%. Incumbent Liberal cabinet ministers are in bold, other incumbents are in italics.
Candidates
Party leaders and cabinet ministers are denoted in bold.
Northern New Brunswick
Eastern New Brunswick
Southeastern New Brunswick
Jamie Ed Borden 81
Greater Saint John">Saint John, New Brunswick">Saint John & Fundy Coast
