Bernard Lord was elected Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick in 1997. He was first elected to the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly in a by-election a year later in 1998 and became the Leader of the Official Opposition. In 1999, he led the Progressive Conservatives to a landslide victory and was sworn in as Premier of New Brunswick. He stepped down as leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party and resigned his seat as New Brunswick MLA for Moncton East effective January 31, 2007. He is a bilingual lawyer from Moncton, New Brunswick.