Acadie-Bathurst (New Brunswick) - 4/338

Acadie-Bathurst (New Brunswick)

Our next riding is our first Atlantic riding, Acadie-Bathurst!

Acadie-Bathurst has been in place since the 2012 redistribution, gaining a small portion from Miramichi-Grand Lake. The population centers are the namesake Bathurst (30,424 as of the 2016 Census), Tracadie-Sheila (16,000 as of the 2011 Census), as well as the coastal towns of Caraquet, Lamèque, and Shippagan.

Politically, the riding was held by the NDP for almost 20 years until the Liberal sweep of the Atlantic in 2015. More specifically it was held by Yvon Godin for 18 years. When he retired, mayor of Maisonette, Jason Godin (no relation) ran in his place and the seat swung over 30 points to the Liberals. The riding is currently represented by Liberal MP Serge Cormier.

This riding is one where the incumbent is very favoured. Yvon Godin improved on his margin in all but one of his six elections. As well, this is one of the seats where the Liberals gained ground in 2019, sweeping all the population centers that the NDP had won. This seat was the widest margin of victory in 2019 in NB and 270/338 in Canada.

Rating:

Name: 8.4/10 - We have our first historical name! Acadie is the name of a former French colony that comprised the Maritimes. That combined with Bathurst gives us a pretty good name by all accounts.

Shape: 7.3/10 - It's hard to get annoyed with the shape of coastal ridings, but one thing that is controllable is the edge with Madawaska-Restigouche, it's not like there's a big population there, from what I can tell it's just a few rural communities.

Individuality: 6.2/10 - It's cool how big of a swing there was (I guess not for the NDP) in 2015, but other than that it is pretty on par with other Atlantic ridings.

Total: 21.9/30 (73%)

Join us tomorrow with our first city riding, Ahuntsic-Cartierville!