Prior to entering politics, Brazil was an independent business owner, worked in the non-profit sector, and was a senior manager with the provincial government for 26 years. He has worked for the departments of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, Health and Community Services, Tourism, Culture and Recreation, Education and Municipal Affairs.
Political career
In November 2010, Brazil won the nomination to be the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador candidate in a by-election for the electoral district of Conception Bay East – Bell Island defeating five other candidates for the nomination. The by-election was being held to replace the late Dianne Whalen who had died a month earlier. The by-election was called for December 2, 2010 with two other candidates running for the New Democrats and the Liberals. One week before the by-election, on November 25, Premier Danny Williams announced that he would retire from politics on December 3, 2010. With the announcement that the Premier would be resigning it left many wondering if Brazil, who was initially thought to easily hold on to the seat for the Tories, would be able to win now that the party's popular leader was stepping down. However, on December 2, 2010, Brazil defeated both the New Democratic and Liberal Party candidates, winning 66% of the popular vote. The percentage of the vote was consistent with previous by-election wins the PCs had before the announcement that Williams was retiring. Brazil was re-elected with 55% of the vote in the 2011 election. On July 17, 2014, Brazil was appointed to the Executive Council of Newfoundland and Labrador as Minister of Service NL. When Paul Davis took over as premier in September 2014, he moved Brazil to Minister of Transportation and Works. Brazil was re-elected in the 2015 election, defeating Liberal Danny Dumaresque by almost 1900 votes. In 2017, Brazil declined to seek the leadership of the PC Party and endorsed Tony Wakeham in the 2018 election, serving as his campaign manager. Following the election of Ches Crosbie as PC leader in April 2018, Paul Davis announced he would resign as Leader of the Opposition. Since Crosbie did not have a seat in the House of Assembly when elected leader, Brazil was appointed the Leader of the Opposition on May 14, 2018. On September 20, 2018 Crosbie won the district of Windsor Lake in a by-election, therefore becoming Leader of the Opposition. He was re-elected in the 2019 provincial election.
