Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

{{Infobox legislature

| name = Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|fr|Assemblée législative du Nouveau-Brunswick}}}}

| coa_pic = NewBrunswick CoatOfArms.png

| coa_res =

| coa-pic =

| coa-res =

| session_room = New Brunswick Legislative Assembly 2011.JPG

| legislature = 61st New Brunswick Legislature

| house_type = Lower house (1786–1891) then unicameral house

| body = New Brunswick Legislature

| foundation = {{Start date and age|1785}}

| preceded_by = Nova Scotia House of Assembly

| leader2_type = Speaker

| leader2 = Francine Landry

| party2 = Liberal

| election2 =

| leader3_type = Premier

| leader3 = Susan Holt

| party3 = Liberal

| election3 = 2 November 2024

| leader4_type = Leader of the Opposition

| leader4 = Glen Savoie

| party4 = PC

| election4 =

| leader5_type = Government
House Leader

| leader5 = Marco LeBlanc

| party5 = Lib

| election5 =

| leader6_type = Opposition
House Leader

| leader6 = Margaret Johnson

| party6 = PC

| election6 =

| members = 49

| structure1 = New_Brunswick_Legislative_Assembly_(Assemblée_législative_du_Nouveau-Brunswick)_-_Seating_Chart_by_Party_(Plan_de_salle_par_parti).svg

| structure1_res = 300

| political_groups1 =

His Majesty's Government

{{legend|#EA6D6A|Liberal (31)}}

His Majesty's Loyal Opposition

{{legend|#6598ef|Progressive Conservative (15)}}

Other parties

{{legend|#99C955|Green (2)}}
{{color box|white|border=darkgray}} Vacant (1)

| last_election1 = October 21, 2024

| next_election1 = TBD

| meeting_place = Legislative Building, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

| website = [https://www.legnb.ca/en www.legnb.ca]

| salary = C$93,126 (2024 base salary){{cite news|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9746921/new-brunswick-mla-pay-raise|title=New Brunswick MLAs to get pay raise in 2024|first=Silas|last=Brown|publisher=Global News|date=June 5, 2023|access-date=October 22, 2024}}

}}

The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick ({{langx|fr|Assemblée législative du Nouveau-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 when the colony was created in 1784 but came into session only in 1786, following the first elections in late 1785. The legislative assembly was originally the lower house in a bicameral legislature. Its upper house counterpart, the Legislative Council of New Brunswick, was abolished in 1891. Its members are called "Members of the Legislative Assembly", commonly referred to as "MLAs".

History

Nova Scotia originally covered most of the territory of today's Maritime provinces.{{Cite journal|last=Desserud|first=Donald|last2=Hyson|first2=Stewart|date=May 2012|title=New Brunswick's Legislative Assembly|url=http://www.revparlcan.ca/en/vol35-no1-new-brunswicks-legislative-assembly-donald-desserud-stewart-hyson-2/|journal=Canadian Parliamentary Review|volume=35|issue=1}} In 1784, New Brunswick became a distinct colony from Nova Scotia. Saint John was chosen as the original capital when New Brunswick was formed as it was the centre of commerce and the only city at that time.{{cite web|title=Fredericton, Saint John capital quarrel revisited in study|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fredericton-saint-john-capital-quarrel-revisited-in-study-1.3105906|access-date=20 July 2017|website=CBC}}

The first elections took place in November 1785. The legislative assembly came into session in January 1786. It was originally the lower house in a bicameral legislature. Its upper house counterpart, the Legislative Council of New Brunswick, was abolished on April 16, 1891.

Legislative Building

The New Brunswick Legislative Building is the current building that houses the Assembly. It opened in 1882, having been constructed by J.C. Dumaresq, following the destruction of the original building, known as Province Hall, by fire in 1880.

The legislative chamber is designed to have four rows on the government side and three rows on the opposition side. This is because elections have traditionally yielded a strong government majority; in fact on occasion, even with many of the seats on one side of the House, the government has spilled over to the opposition side. Quite often the House is oriented to have only two rows on the opposition benches, in the event of a large opposition adding a third row makes the opposition benches rather crowded.