Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Parti Acadien (N.B.)
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
Formed in 1972, disbanded in 1982
History
The French speaking proportion of the New Brunswick electorate more than doubled in the first half of the twentieth century. As a result, there was increasing demand in the 1960s and 1970s for a larger voice for Acadians in provincial politics. The Parti Acadien was a separatist party, formed in 1972 by a group of intellectuals in north-east New Brunswick. In the 1974 and 1978 provincial elections, the Parti Acadien failed to win any seats. Their best showing was in Restigouche West in 1978, when Armand Plourde came within 172 votes of defeating the Liberal candidate. However, changes such as the equalization program and the policy of bilingualism, begun by the Liberals in the 1960s and continued by the Conservatives in the 1970s, had already begun to undermine support for more extreme measures and the Parti Acadien was disbanded in 1982.