| Daniel Allain | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MLA |
| Office1: | Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform |
| Term Start1: | September 29, 2020 |
| Term End1: | June 27, 2023 |
| Premier1: | Blaine Higgs |
| Predecessor1: | Jeff Carr (Environment and Local Government) |
| Successor1: | Glen Savoie |
| Office2: | Member of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly for Moncton East |
| Term Start2: | September 14, 2020 |
| Predecessor2: | Monique LeBlanc |
| Party: | Progressive Conservative (provincial) |
| Otherparty: | Conservative (federal) |
| Residence: | Moncton, New Brunswick |
Daniel Allain is a Canadian politician from New Brunswick. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick at the 2020 general election in the riding of Moncton East.[1] He served as Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform until being dropped from the cabinet on June 27, 2023.
In his early political career, Allain served as Premier Bernard Lord's constituency assistant in Moncton East from 2000 to 2003.[2] Allain stood in the 2008 Canadian federal election in Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe. In 2013, during the mandate of Premier David Alward, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Management and Administration in the Office of the Premier of New Brunswick, and, in 2010, he was appointed president and chief executive officer of NB Liquor.[3]
From 2016 to 2020, Allain served as an at-large city councillor in Dieppe. As part of this municipal role, he also sat on the board of the Codiac Regional Policing Authority.
In the 2020 New Brunswick general election, Allain defeated Liberal MLA Monique LeBlanc and became the MLA for the Moncton East. As the only francophone in caucus and a former municipal councillor,[4] Allain was made a member of the Executive Council of New Brunswick and given the position of Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform.[5]
As Minister, Allain oversaw the implementation of significant reforms. Promoted as being the most substantial since Premier Robichaud's Equal Opportunity Program, the Higgs-Allain local governance reforms consolidated the province's many local governance entities from 340 to fewer than 100.[6]
Following premier Blaine Higgs's revision of Policy 713, Allain, then serving as the Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform, expressed his "extreme disappointment in a lack of process and transparency" in a jointly signed letter with fellow cabinet minister Jeff Carr.[7] On June 27, 2023, Higgs dismissed both Allain and Carr from their cabinet positions, citing a breach of cabinet solidarity due to their support for the opposition motion on the policy.[8] Allain and Carr, along with resigned ministers Dorothy Shephard and Trevor Holder, all voted with the opposition parties on June 15 which favoured a Liberal motion which opposed the policy revision and called for increased consultation on the policy.[9] [7] Allain and Carr were both relegated to backbencher positions, and new ministers were appointed to fill their cabinet roles.[9] Allain had planned to be a candidate for the newly created riding of Champdoré-Irishtown,[10] but instead made an announcement on March 1, 2024, that he would not be a candidate in the next election and remain in the legislature until it is called.[11]