Parti Acadien

The Parti Acadien was a political party in New Brunswick, Canada, in the 1970s and 1980s. The party was founded in 1972 by Acadians who were upset over poorer living conditions in predominantly francophone areas of the province versus those areas dominated by anglophones. The economy of New Brunswick was concentrated in the cities of Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton, while the eastern and northern parts of New Brunswick, predominantly Francophone, was relatively poorer as a result of an economy based primarily on entrenched and seasonal commercial fishing and lumber industries.

Despite efforts by Louis Robichaud, an Acadian who served as the province's premier between the 1960 and 1970 elections, to modernize through investment in education and business promotion by instituting what was called an equal opportunity program, some Acadians felt they would be better served by their own administration. As a result, the Parti Acadien advocated the formation of a separate Acadian province within Canada, a proposition that would require an amendment to the Canadian Constitution following a provincial referendum.

The Parti Acadien tried to distance itself from its more radical elements, even hesitating to use the word "nationalist". Their platform had several socialist policies, though officially their goal was to work for reforms using the already-existing framework of New Brunswick law. They also explained that they were not anti-anglophone per se, but felt that the capitalist system in place in the province favoured the predominantly English south. Many of the radicals joined a new cultural organization, the Société Acadienne du Nouveau-Brunswick (SANB).

Euclide Chiasson was the party's first president and leader. The party nominated 13 candidates in the province's 58 ridings in the 1974 provincial election, 23 candidates in the 1978 provincial election, and 10 candidates in the 1982 provincial election, which was the party's last.

The party considered an alliance or merger with the New Brunswick New Democratic Party (NDP), encouraging voters in ridings with no Parti Acadien candidate to vote for the NDP instead. No formal agreement was ever reached.

In 1975, Jean-Pierre Lanteigne was elected leader. He sought to abandon demands for a new Acadian province, instead maintaining a social democratic agenda for New Brunswick as a whole. This caused a rift in the party, with some members hoping that the success of the separatist Parti Québécois in the Province of Quebec would spark hopes for Acadian nationalism as well. Lanteigne insisted, however, that his party was not a New Brunswick branch of the Parti Québécois.