Antoine Joseph Léger

Who was Antoine Joseph Léger?

Antoine Joseph Léger was a lawyer, author and political figure of Acadian descent in New Brunswick. He represented Westmorland County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1925 to 1935 as a Conservative member and then represented the division of L'Acadie in the Senate of Canada from 1935 to 1950.

Léger was born in Memramcook, New Brunswick. He was educated there and at the St. Joseph's College. Léger then attended the normal school in Fredericton and worked for several months in Quebec. He returned to New Brunswick to article in law with Alfred LaForest in Edmundston, was called to the Bar of New Brunswick in 1907 and set up practice in Moncton.

Antoine Léger ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in 1917 but won in the 1925 New Brunswick general election as a declared candidate in the Westmorland County Electoral District for the then unofficial Progressive Conservative Party. On September 14, 1925, new Premier John B. M. Baxter appointed him to his Cabinet as the Provincial Secretary-Treasurer. Léger held the position until July 16, 1935 when he was defeated in a bid for reelection.