Dorothy Shephard (born ) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician, who was elected to 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'' ...

in the 2010 provincial election and served until 2024. She represented the electoral district of

Saint John Lancaster Saint John West-Lancaster () is a provincial electoral district for 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 Ne ...

as a member of the Progressive Conservatives. She was born and raised in Saint John. Shephard was re-elected in the 2014, 2018 and 2020 provincial elections. Prior to becoming involved in politics, she owned and operated Benjamin Moore Colour Centre, a retail decorating store, for 17 years. Shephard served as Minister of Healthy and Inclusive Communities in the Alward government from 2012 to 2014. In 2018, she was appointed Minister of Social Development in the

Higgs Higgs may refer to: Physics *Higgs boson, an elementary particle * Higgs factory, a proposed particle accelerator *Higgs field, a quantum field *Higgs field (classical) *Higgs mechanism, an explanation for electroweak symmetry breaking * Higgs pha ...

government. In 2020, she was appointed Minister of Health, and in 2022, she was returned to the post of Minister of Social Development. Shephard resigned from cabinet on June 15, 2023, by handing Premier

Blaine Higgs Blaine Myron Higgs (born March 1, 1954) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 34th premier of New Brunswick from 2018 to 2024 and leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party (PC Party) from 2016 to 2024. Higgs grad ...

a handwritten resignation letter on the floor of legislature after a voting for an opposition motion calling for further studies on Policy 713. In subsequent media interviews, she cited frustration with Higgs' leadership approach as the reason for her resignation, with his management of Policy 713 being the culmination of her frustrations. On March 21, 2024 Shephard announced that she would not be a contestant in the provincial election scheduled for October 2024, citing a conflict between the party's traditionally "moderate, centrist values", which she supported, and its recent "hyper-focused trend with far-right politics".

Election results

References

Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs Politicians from Saint John, New Brunswick Women MLAs in New Brunswick Living people 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women government ministers of Canada Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick 1960s births Year of birth missing (living people) {{ProgressiveConservative-NewBrunswick-MLA-stub