Entrance To Politics
Valcourt was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the 1984 election that brought Brian Mulroney to power. He was appointed to the Cabinet of Canada in 1986 as a Minister of State. In January 1989, he was promoted to Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, but was forced to resign from Cabinet in August when he was involved in a drunk driving motorcycle accident that cost him an eye.
He returned to Cabinet seven months later as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. In 1991, he was promoted to Minister of Employment and Immigration, and held the position until the government of Mulroney's successor as PC leader and prime minister, Kim Campbell, was defeated in the 1993 election. Valcourt lost his seat in Parliament in that election.
In May 1995, Valcourt was elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick. While he won a seat in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 1995 provincial election, his party only won six seats against 48 for Frank McKenna's Liberals. Valcourt resigned as leader in 1997 following a lukewarm endorsement of his leadership at a party convention, and was succeeded by Bernard Lord.
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