David Nathan Alward (born December 2, 1959) is a Canadian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, who served as the 32nd

premier of New Brunswick The premier of New Brunswick ( (masculine) or (feminine)) is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The premier of a Canadian province is much like the prime minister of Canada. They are normally ...

, 2010 to 2014. Alward has been a member of the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick () is the deliberative assembly of the New Brunswick Legislature, in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The assembly's seat is located in Fredericton. It was established in Saint John ''de jure'' ...

since 1999 and has been the leader of the

Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a Centre-right politics, centre-right Conservatism in Canada, conservative political party in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. The party has its o ...

. His party was defeated on September 22, 2014, and Alward resigned as

leader on September 23, 2014. On April 24, 2015, Alward was named Canadian consul general in Boston.

Early life

Alward was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, United States. The son of a minister, Alward moved to

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (), is the list of regions of Canada, region of Eastern Canada comprising four provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. As of 2021, the landma ...

in his youth where he graduated from

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in Nackawic, New Brunswick. Alward received his

post-secondary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational school ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

in the United States at Bryan College in

Dayton, Tennessee Dayton is a city in and the county seat of Rhea County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 7,065. The Dayton Urban Cluster includes developed areas adjacent to the city and extends ...

Career

Alward worked as a federal

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

from 1982 to 1996 when he went into business on his own. He operates a hobby

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

where he raises purebred

Hereford cattle The Hereford is a British List of cattle breeds, breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It was the result of selective breeding from the mid-eighteenth century by a few famil ...

. He also volunteered as an

emergency medical technician An emergency medical technician (often, more simply, EMT) is a medical professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found serving on ambulances and in fire departments in the US and Canada, as full-time and som ...

and lab instructor with the

St. John Ambulance St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primarily staffed by volunte ...

and as a firefighter with the Meductic Fire Department. He served on the board of directors of the Carleton Regional Development Commission and the New Brunswick Hereford Association. He served on the Centennial Elementary School Parent Advisory Committee, the School District 12 Stay-in-School Committee, and the local agricultural employment board. Alward is an active member of his Meductic Church, and a member of the Woodstock

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

Political career

He was elected to the

, as a Progressive Conservative for the riding of

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

, in the 1999 election and re-elected in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. Following the 2003 election, he joined the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture. On June 19, 2008, Alward became the first candidate in the 2008 Progressive Conservative leadership race. On October 18, 2008, he was elected leader of the party at the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick leadership convention in Fredericton. Alward beat his only opponent, Robert MacLeod, by a margin of 2,269 votes to 1,760.

Premier of New Brunswick

On September 27, 2010, Alward's Progressive Conservatives won 42 of 55 seats to form a majority government. He was sworn in as the premier on October 12, 2010. On May 13, 2011, his government passed the Ownership of Minerals Act. On December 3, 2012, he and Local Government Minister Bruce Fitch announced a cut in property taxes for businesses, farms, rental properties and cottages. On March 12, 2014, he and Natural Resources Minister Paul Robichaud unveiled a new forest management plan, entitled "Putting our Resources to Work: A Strategy for Crown Lands Forest Management". This plan increased the annual allowable cut by 20%, and was endorsed by mill owner Jim Irving. Alward was defeated in the 2014 New Brunswick general election and announced his resignation as party leader on September 23, 2014. He resigned from the legislature on May 22, 2015, after accepting a federal appointment as Canada's

Consul General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and renounced U.S. citizenship to take up the position.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alward, David 1959 births 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick American emigrants to Canada Bryan College alumni Canadian Baptists Canadian people of English descent Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick Living people Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick Naturalized citizens of Canada Premiers of New Brunswick People from Beverly, Massachusetts People who renounced United States citizenship Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs