In the 1978 election in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, Richard Hatfield's Progressive Conservative Party narrowly won its third term.
In the lead up to 1978, the Opposition Liberal Party seemed destined to return to power. A number of scandals had been tied to the Tories, and Liberal leader Robert Higgins was widely popular. In early 1978, Higgins believed he had tied some of the scandals directly to Hatfield himself. In a bold move, Higgins promised to resign should Hatfield prove that he was not tied directly to the scandal, which Hatfield promptly did. Higgins was forced to abruptly resign, and was replaced by Joe Daigle as leader. The Liberals mused that Hatfield had purposely ensured false information was leaked to the Liberals to lead them into making false accusations.
Higgins' resignation created Hatfield's best chance to go to the polls. He called an election shortly after Daigle became Liberal leader. Despite the lack of a direct link to Hatfield, scandal remained tied to his government and a close election result was assured.
The result was the closest in New Brunswick history: the governing PCs won 30 seats to 28 for the opposition. The popular vote was very close: 146,719 votes were cast for Conservative candidates, and 146,596 for Liberals. In order to secure a workable majority following the election, Hatfield appointed Liberal Robert McGready as speaker of the legislature, despite strong objections from McGready's Liberal colleagues.
The Parti Acadien had its best ever showing in the is election, coming within 200 votes of electing Armand Plourde in Restigouche West.
Results
