65 years after his groundbreaking electoral victory, the legacy of Louis J. Robichaud lives on
CBC
Sixty-five years ago, New Brunswick elected an Acadian as premier for the first time, spurring the province to begin bridging the gap between its French and English populations.
Louis J. Robichaud served as premier from 1960-70 and oversaw a program of change that remade New Brunswick.
When he entered office, the province faced divisions of language and class. But while he wasn't able to solve these problems, he did set a course toward more equality for all New Brunswickers — French or English, urban or rural.
"Louis Robichaud was one of the people who started to put New Brunswick together in a shape that we recognize today," said Michael Camp, a former provincial affairs reporter at CBC New Brunswick and journalism professor at St. Thomas University.
"[He] introduced two essential pieces of legislation which have really guided the politics of this province for more than half a century."
Robichaud was born in rural Saint-Antoine, in eastern New Brunswick, when the social status of Acadians living in largely rural areas of the province's east and north was far below anglophones at the time.
"I think pre-1960 you could say it was very much subservient to the anglophone majority," said Mario Levesque, a political scientist at Mount Allison University.
"We saw this [in the] nature of our social services overall, our education system that we had at that time and even the fact that there were very few [Acadians elected] to office as well."
Robichaud was first elected as an MLA in 1952 and quickly rose through the ranks of the Liberal Party during its stint on opposition benches.
In 1958, Robichaud became leader of the party and was soon thrust into a general election campaign against Hugh John Flemming's Progressive Conservatives.
Fleming, who had already served two terms as premier, was seen as the favourite to win.
According to Della Stanley in her book Louis Robichaud: A Decade of Power, all the provincial media outlets sent reporters to Flemming's campaign headquarters on election night, ignoring Robichaud.
It would turn out to be an embarrassing evening for the media: Robichaud's Liberals trounced the Tories 31-21.
While Robichaud wasn't the first Acadian premier, he was the first Acadian premier elected by the people of New Brunswick, with support in francophone and anglophone areas.
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