Joel Bernard

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Joel Bernard
Member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
In office
1999–2003
Preceded byAlban Landry
Succeeded byFrank Branch
ConstituencyNepisiguit
Personal details
Born (1963-12-08) December 8, 1963 (age 60)
Dalhousie, New Brunswick, Canada
Political partyConservative Party of Canada
Other political
affiliations
Progressive Conservative
Residence(s)Ottawa, Ontario
ProfessionPolitician

Joel Bernard (born December 8, 1963) is a Canadian conservative politician.

Political career[edit]

Provincial[edit]

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, representing Nepisiguit, in the general election of 1999 and became deputy speaker of the Legislature. He was defeated in his bid for a second term in the 2003 election by former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Frank Branch. Branch had represented the area from 1970 to 1995, when he retired and did not seek re-election.

Bernard was one of several defeated Progressive Conservative MLAs who were appointed to government positions by Premier Bernard Lord following their defeat in the 2003 election.

Bernard had been appointed to oversee and economic development fund for the Restigouche-Baie des Chaleurs region. He took a leave of absence from his position in March 2004 to be a Conservative candidate in the 2004 federal election.

Federal[edit]

In late April 2005, Bernard announced he would be a candidate for the Conservative nomination for the riding of Ottawa—Orléans for the next federal election. On May 16, he was defeated by Royal Galipeau, a former member of the Liberal Party of Canada, for the nomination by a margin of 174 to 126, who went on to win the seat in the election.

From 2006 to 2008, Bernard held the position of Senior Policy Advisor in the office of Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety in the new Conservative government.

In the 2008 federal election, the Conservative Party brought Bernard to Nova Scotia to run against Conservative-turned-Independent Bill Casey in the riding of Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodoboit Valley.[1] On election night, Casey was re-elected by over 22,000 votes, with Bernard finishing third, polling just under 9%.[2][3]

Bernard was the Senior Policy Advisor for aerospace, procurements, industrial regional benefits and the auto file to Tony Clement, Minister of Industry Canada, until he left the position in 2010. Since then, he has held several positions of Senior Policy Advisor for Fisheries & Oceans Canada, International Development and La francophonie. He later was employed as a Parliamentary Affairs Advisor for Pierre Paul-Hus, the Shadow minister for Public Safety, Border Security and Emergency Preparedness and the Member of Parliament for Charlesbourg – Haute – Saint-Charles.

In March 2019, Bernard won the Ottawa—Vanier Conservative nomination contest, becoming their candidate for the 2019 federal election.

Personal life[edit]

He lives in Ottawa, Ontario with his wife Catherine and his two children, Lilianne and Samuel. Joel retired in December 2023 and is the co-founder of the Hill Advisory Network (THAN). THAN is a mentoring service made available free of charge to Parliament Hill Staffers (All political stripes).

Electoral record[edit]

Federal[edit]

2021 Canadian federal election: Gatineau
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Steven MacKinnon 26,267 50.0 -2.1 $55,420.93
Bloc Québécois Geneviève Nadeau 12,278 23.4 +2.0 $13,121.18
Conservative Joel Bernard 5,752 11.0 +0.7 $3,144.49
New Democratic Fernanda Rengel 4,508 8.6 -2.4 $51.11
People's Mathieu Saint-Jean 2,264 4.3 +3.3 $4,401.73
Green Rachid Jemmah 783 1.5 -2.6 $0.00
Free Luc Lavoie 411 0.8 N/A $564.48
Rhinoceros Sébastien Grenier 178 0.3 N/A $0.00
Marxist–Leninist Pierre Soublière 56 0.1 ±0.0 $0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit 52,497 98.5 $113,382.26
Total rejected ballots 818 1.5
Turnout 53,315 63.8
Registered voters 83,618
Liberal hold Swing -2.0
Source: Elections Canada[4]
2019 Canadian federal election: Ottawa—Vanier
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Mona Fortier 32,679 51.2 0 $76,159.78
New Democratic Stéphanie Mercier 13,516 21.2 -7.5 none listed
Conservative Joel Bernard 11,118 17.4 +2 $18,239.00
Green Oriana Ngabirano 4,796 7.5 +4.2 $8,669.23
People's Paul Durst 1,064 1.7 $6,338.44
Rhinoceros Derek Miller 229 0.4 $0.00
Independent Joel Altman 211 0.3 $281.93
Communist Michelle Paquette 115 0.2 $496.90
Independent Daniel James McHugh 94 0.1 $0.00
Marxist–Leninist Christian Legeais 59 0.1 $0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit 63,881 100.0
Total rejected ballots 699
Turnout 64,580 71.0
Eligible voters 91,015
Liberal hold Swing +3.75
Source: Elections Canada[5][6]
2008 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Independent Bill Casey 27,303 69.01 +16.97 $68,549.58
New Democratic Karen Olsson 4,874 12.32 -8.42 $6,944.11
Conservative Joel Bernard 3,493 8.83 -43.21 $35,846.73
Liberal Tracy Parsons 3,344 8.45 -15.44 $28,266.26
Independent Rick Simpson 550 1.39 +0.17 none listed
Total valid votes/Expense limit 39,564 100.0     $84,518
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots 201 0.51 +0.04
Turnout 39,765 57.77 -4.08
Eligible voters 68,831
Independent gain from Conservative Swing +12.68
2004 Canadian federal election: Acadie—Bathurst
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
New Democratic Yvon Godin 23,857 53.93 +7.26 $61,745.98
Liberal Serge Rousselle 14,452 32.67 -7.75 $60,252.15
Conservative Joel Bernard 4,841 10.94 -1.97 $51,943.73
Green Mario Lanteigne 1,085 2.45 $7,040.66
Total valid votes/expense limit 44,235 100.0     $71,582
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots 527 1.18 -0.04
Turnout 44,762 70.38 -4.99
Eligible voters 63,603
New Democratic notional hold Swing +7.50
Changes from 2000 are based on redistributed results. Conservative Party change is based on the combination of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party totals.

Provincial[edit]

2003 New Brunswick general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Frank Branch 3,498 53.06 +19.24
Progressive Conservative Joel Bernard 2,200 33.37 -5.11
New Democratic Normand Savoie 894 13.56 -14.14
Total valid votes 6,592 100.0  
Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative Swing +12.18
1999 New Brunswick general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Joel Bernard 2,534 38.48 +8.18
Liberal Alban Landry 2,227 33.82 -23.82
New Democratic Gilles Halley 1,824 27.70 +16.99
Total valid votes 6,585 100.0  
Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +16.00

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Conservatives bring in adviser to challenge Casey". CBC News, September 9, 2008.
  2. ^ "Turfed Conservative Casey back as Independent". CBC News, October 15, 2008.
  3. ^ "Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodoboit Valley riding results". CBC News, retrieved April 2, 2010.
  4. ^ "Confirmed candidates — Gatineau". Elections Canada. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  5. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  6. ^ "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 2, 2019.