Elizabeth Weir

Elizabeth Jane Weir (February 20 1948 – ) is a lawyer and politician in the Canadian Province of New Brunswick, Canada. She was elected leader of the New Democratic Party of New Brunswick in 1988 and became the strongest opposition voice to the Liberal government, which held all 58 seats in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick.

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Weir was educated at the University of Waterloo and the University of Western Ontario. She has taught at York University and the University of New Brunswick. Weir was first elected to the legislature in 1991 in the riding of Saint John South where she defeated the liberal John Mooney by only 78 votes . In 1995, the riding became Saint John Harbour and she was re-elected in 1995, 1999 and 2003. During this time, she has been the sole New Democrat in the legislature.

On October 8, 2004, Weir announced that she would be stepping down from the leadership of the NDP but would stay on until a successor was chosen. She also pledged to run for re-election to the legislature in the next general election; however, she eventually reversed this pledge. Allison Brewer was chosen as her successor at a September 2005 leadership convention and Weir resigned her seat from the legislature on October 13, 2005 to accept the appointment to be the first president and CEO of the new New Brunswick crown corporation the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency.