Roger Duguay

Roger Duguay was born on September 19, 1963, in Maltempec, New Brunswick. The son of Seraphin and Imelda (Pinet) Duguay, he is the eighth of twelve brothers and sisters. He attended high school at La Polyvalente Louis-Mailloux, in Caraquet and after graduating worked for a year in the Pecheries Saint Paul in Lower Caraquet.  He studied philosophy and religious science at the Universite de Moncton; while a student he was active in the Red Cross and worked as a camp counsellor in Shediac.

As a teenager growing up in the Acadian Peninsula Mr. Duguay saw the adults in his community working for a few months and then spending the rest of the year unemployed and de-motivated. This prompted him to get involved in politics; he joined the NDP and in 1982 worked as campaign manager for the first ever NDP campaign in Caraquet.
Mr. Duguay graduated from the Universite de Moncton in 1987 and enrolled in Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. After two years he returned to the Peninsula and started work for School District 5 as a supply teacher. He joined the SOS Environment group, worked as an organizer for the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau Brunswick and in 1993 spent a summer working in Haiti on a community development project. He adopted his personal motto, that “Everything you don’t give is lost forever”.

Mr. Duguay ran as a candidate for the NDP for the first time in 1991, winning 21% of the vote – twice the provincial average. In 1992 he resumed his Theology studies, this time at the Universite de Laval. He completed his Bachelors and then his Masters in 1996; on completing his training for the priesthood he left for an extended trip across Europe.

Ordained in Lameque in April 1997, he served there as Deacon before moving to Alnwick in the Neguac year. He worked as parish priest for six and a half years, in 1999 he ran for the NDP for the second time, this time winning 13% of the vote. In 2004 Mr. Duguay moved to Riviere-du-Portage, where he served as priest for that parish and for the parish of Sheila, for two years. In 2006 he began working as a supply teacher and ran again for the NDP, winning 26%, the highest level of support for any NDP candidate in New Brunswick. Asked about choosing politics instead of the priesthood he said “I never regret my time as a priest. It gave a foundation as a person, as a leader, that will follow me in everything I do”.

In 2006, after the election, he was approached by the well-known activist John Carty, who suggested he run for party leader. He decided to run, realizing he didn’t want to wake up and be sixty, and regret that he hadn’t taken the responsibility in front of him. In October 2007 he was elected leader of the New Brunswick NDP, defeating Fredericton union activist Dennis Atchison, and set about reforming the party, changing the organizational structure and building the party across New Brunswick. By the time the provincial election began, at the end of August 2010, he had recruited professional staff, built constituency associations across the province, and reconnected the party with the public. His work paid off as the party grew to unprecedented levels of popularity.

Elected as the President of his Local District Services in 2009 Mr. Duguay enjoys bicycling and walking in his spare time. Standing as a candidate for Tracadie-Sheila in the 2010 election he says “Remember your responsibility, remember the money we spend as politicians isn’t ours. You can be in charge of a parish, or a political party: but that power, it never belongs to you. You facilitate, give your point, at the end it’s the group you represent who make the final decision.”