July 12, 1960 - Louis Joseph Robichaud - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Louis Joseph Robichaud becomes first Elected Acadian premier of New Brunswick. Louis Robichaud was born into a large Acadian family on October 21, 1925 in the village of Saint-Antoine, New Brunswick. He started school in a one-room schoolhouse, and ended up becoming a lawyer. Robichaud took on the challenge of improving the life of Acadians, who were often forgotten in the Canadian cultural landscape. First elected to the New Brunswick legislature in 1952, Robichaud became leader of the Liberal Party in 1958. On July 12, 1960, he was sworn in as the premier of New Brunswick. Although the second Acadian to hold the position (following Peter John Veniot in 1923), he was the first to be voted in at a general election. Quickly, Robichaud established a reputation as a reformer, substantially improving health care, education and equality of opportunities. In 1969, his government established Canada’s first officially bilingual province. Robichaud delivered three electoral victories to his Liberal Party before Richard Hatfield’s Progressive Conservatives defeated him in 1970. After receiving the Order of Canada, Robichaud became a Liberal senator in Ottawa from 1973 until his retirement in 2000. He died of cancer on June 6, 2005.

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