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Peter J. Veniot)
Peter John Veniot (October 4, 1863-July 6, 1936) was a New Brunswick journalist and politician and the first Acadian premier of the province.. He was first elected to the provincial legislature in 1894 but left politics in 1900 for a customs job. In 1912 he was hired to reorganize the Liberal Party of New Brunswick and became an MLA again in 1917. He served in cabinet as minister of public works and became Premier in 1923. Veniot was a supporter of the Maritime Rights movement which advocated more power for maritime provinces in Canadian confederation. His government was defeated in 1925 and Veniot resigned as provincial Liberal leader in 1926 in order to enter federal politics in the 1926 federal election serving as postmaster-general in the cabinet of William Lyon Mackenzie King. In Cabinet, Veniot advocated implementation of the Duncan Commission recommendations on alleviating maritime alienation. Recommendations of freight-rate reductions and subsidy increases were implemented, but suggestions for subsidies based on fiscal need and transportation use to encourage regional development were ignored.
Veniot remained an MP until his death in 1936.
