Andrew Blair

Blair, Andrew

Andrew George Blair, lawyer, politician, premier of NB (b at Fredericton NB 7 Mar 1844; d there 25 Jan 1907). First elected MLA for York in 1878, he became leader of the Opposition in 1879, premier and attorney general in 1883, and molded his coalition into the New Brunswick Liberal Party. He formalized election campaigning and party platforms. In 1892 he suffered personal defeat in York over religious education but was re-elected for Queens.

He resigned in 1896 to serve as minister of railways and canals in the Laurier Cabinet, and sat as MP for Queens-Sunbury 1896 and Saint John City 1900. Opposed to Laurier's plan to build the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, he resigned in 1903; in 1904 he was associated with a political conspiracy to defeat Laurier.