Marcelle Mersereau, (born February 14, 1942 in

Pointe-Verte Pointe-Verte (2016 pop: 886) is a Canadian village in Gloucester County, New Brunswick. Located on Chaleur Bay 30 km north of Bathurst, the village's main industry is lobster and scallop fishing, as well as forestry. The community is sla ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...

) is a

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. A

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for most of her career, she also served as a councillor on

Bathurst, New Brunswick Bathurst ( 2021 population; UA 12,157 ) is the largest City in Northern New Brunswick, it overlooks the Nepisiguit Bay, part of Chaleur Bay and is at the estuary of the Nepisiguit River. As part of the New Brunswick local governance reform , ...

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while on the provincial payroll from 1980 to 1991. She resigned her seat on council upon being elected to the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an ...

in the 1991 provincial election. A member of

Frank McKenna Francis Joseph McKenna (born January 19, 1948) is a Canadian businessman and former politician and diplomat. He is currently Deputy Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank. He served as Canadian Ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2006. ...

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, she was immediately named to

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and became

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in 1994. She served in a variety of roles in cabinet until the defeat of the Liberals in the 1999 election. She defeated PC candidate Robert N. Stairs to retain her seat in Bathurst, one of only 10 Liberals to survive what was their worst ever electoral defeat. In

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she was a top critic and the media reported she had lost the vote in her

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to become interim leader of her party by a margin of 4-3 following the resignation of

Camille Thériault Camille Henri Thériault (born February 25, 1955) served as the 29th premier of New Brunswick from 1998 to 1999. Early life The son of Joséphine Martin and Norbert Thériault, a former provincial cabinet minister and Canadian Senator, Camil ...

. Her most high-profile role in opposition was that of finance

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. She did not seek re-election to the legislature in

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but has remained active in her party. She was elected vice president of the New Brunswick Liberal Association on October 4, 2003 and re-elected on October 15, 2005. During the 2004 federal election, she was co-chair of the Liberal campaign in New Brunswick. She was the

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candidate for the House of Commons of Canada in the riding of

Acadie—Bathurst Acadie—Bathurst (formerly Gloucester) is a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1867. Until 1997, the riding was largely held by the Liberal Party thanks to ...

in the 2006 federal election, but finished second to

Yvon Godin Yvon Godin (born May 12, 1955) is a Canadian politician. Godin was a New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Acadie—Bathurst from 1997 until his retirement in 2015. P ...

of the

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. She served as co-chair of the successful Liberal campaign as it prepared for the 2006 provincial election. She succeeded

Greg Byrne Greg Byrne, K.C. (born April 14, 1960, in Harvey, New Brunswick) is a lawyer and former MLA in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Byrne was educated at Fredericton High School, Saint Thomas University (where he received a Bachelor of ...

as president of the New Brunswick Liberal Party when he resigned after being appointed to the cabinet following the 2006 election and served the post until stepping down in the Fall of 2007.

References

List of Women MLAs, New Brunswick Legislative Library

Cabinet

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mersereau, Marcelle 1942 births Living people New Brunswick Liberal Association MLAs Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick Women MLAs in New Brunswick Deputy premiers of New Brunswick People from Bathurst, New Brunswick 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women government ministers of Canada