Daniel Allain is a Canadian politician from

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. He 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'' ...

at the 2020 general election in the riding of Moncton East and sat in the legislature until 2024. He served as Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform until being dropped from the cabinet on June 27, 2023.

Political career

In his early political career, Allain served as Premier Bernard Lord's constituency assistant in Moncton East from 2000 to 2003. Allain stood in the

2008 Canadian federal election The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the 39th Canadian Parliament, previous parliament had been dissolved by Governor General o ...

in Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe. In 2013, during the mandate of Premier David Alward, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Management and Administration in the Office of the Premier of New Brunswick, and, in 2010, he was appointed president and chief executive officer of NB Liquor. From 2016 to 2020, Allain served as an at-large city councillor in

Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

. As part of this municipal role, he also sat on the board of the Codiac Regional Policing Authority. In the

2020 New Brunswick general election The 2020 New Brunswick general election was held on September 14, 2020, to elect members of the 60th New Brunswick Legislature. The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick, led by Blaine Higgs, won a majority government. The writs of ...

, Allain defeated Liberal MLA

Monique LeBlanc Monique Anne LeBlanc is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2014 provincial election. She represented the electoral district of Moncton East as a member of the Liberal Party. LeBlanc was ...

and became the MLA for the Moncton East. As the only francophone in caucus and a former municipal councillor, Allain was made a member of the

Executive Council of New Brunswick The Executive Council (Commonwealth countries), Executive Council of New Brunswick (), informally and more commonly, the Cabinet of New Brunswick (), is the Cabinet (government), Cabinet of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provin ...

and given the position of Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform. As Minister, Allain oversaw the implementation of significant reforms. Promoted as being the most substantial since Premier Robichaud's Equal Opportunity Program, the Higgs-Allain local governance reforms consolidated the province's many local governance entities from 340 to fewer than 100. Following premier Blaine Higgs's revision of Policy 713, Allain, then serving as the Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform, expressed his "extreme disappointment in a lack of process and transparency" in a jointly signed letter with fellow cabinet minister Jeff Carr. On June 27, 2023, Higgs dismissed both Allain and Carr from their cabinet positions, citing a breach of cabinet solidarity due to their support for the opposition motion on the policy. Allain and Carr, along with resigned ministers Dorothy Shephard and

Trevor Holder Trevor Arthur Holder (born May 8, 1973) is a former Canadian politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2024. At the time of his resignation, he was the longest serving member of the legislature. ...

, all voted with the opposition parties on June 15 which favoured a Liberal motion which opposed the policy revision and called for increased consultation on the policy. Allain and Carr were both relegated to

backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...

positions, and new ministers were appointed to fill their cabinet roles. Allain had planned to be a candidate for the newly created riding of Champdoré-Irishtown, but instead made an announcement on March 1, 2024, that he would not be a candidate in the next election but would remain in the legislature until the election was called.

Electoral history

2020 New Brunswick general election

2008 Canadian federal election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allain, Daniel Living people Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick Politicians from Moncton Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Year of birth missing (living people)