1982 New Brunswick general election

The Opposition Liberal Party had changed leaders four times since the eve of the 1978 election. It chose Doug Young just months before the vote in a divisive contest that came down to a final ballot against Joseph A. Day.

The PCs ran two separate campaigns - one in English and one in French. The francophone campaign, which was mostly run by Hatfield's French lieutenant Jean-Maurice Simard, began with the Grand Ralliement, a symposium on language rights which took place in Shippagan ten days before the election call. Over 400 notable Acadians and other francophones attended. The dual campaigns were remarkably separate from each other, and in some cases contradictory: the English campaign revolved around attacking Doug Young's economic record, while the French campaign pointed out Hatfield's role working with Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in enshrining francophone rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Liberals, divided by their recent leadership contest, ran a lackluster campaign which allowed Hatfield's and Simard's overtures to the Acadian population to carry many seats that had been Liberal strongholds for generations, including 10 of 21 Acadian ridings. The Parti Acadien made its last appearance, as the Conservatives adopted several key points of their former platform.

The New Democratic Party of New Brunswick elected Bob Hall as its first ever Member of the Legislative Assembly. He was later joined by a second NDP MLA, Peter Trites, in a by-election.

• Byers, R. B., ed. (1984). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 1982. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442671966.