Brent Taylor (politician)

Brent Taylor (born December 4, 1959[1]) is a Canadian educator, newspaper columnist, politician, disc jockey, and YouTuber. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1991 to 1995. Additionally, he was the Progressive Conservative Party's candidate for the Southwest Miramichi riding, which he previously represented, in the 2006 election when he was unsuccessful in being re-elected. Before entering politics, he was a radio personality for a brief time in the 1980s, and after his departure from the Legislative Assembly in 1995 he worked as a newspaper columnist and educator. He returned to government work in 2007 when he took a job with Veterans Affairs Canada, where he remains employed as of April 2020.

Brent Taylor
Member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
In office
1991–1995
Brent Taylor
Born4 December 1959 (age 60)
Lachine, Quebec
NationalityCanadian
EducationBachelor of Arts
Occupation
  • educator
  • newspaper columnist
  • politician
  • disc jockey
  • YouTuber
Years active1980s-present
EmployerVeterans Affairs Canada
Political partyConfederation of Regions Party of New Brunswick (1991-1994)


Early life

He was born in Lachine, Quebec,[2] the son of Eldon Taylor and Helen Dickson, and briefly attended the University of New Brunswick.

Political and government work

Taylor first became involved in electoral politics in the early 1990s with the formation of the Confederation of Regions Party of New Brunswick. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 1991 provincial election to represent the riding of Southwest Miramichi.

Taylor was an ally of CoR leader Arch Pafford and was considered on the right of the already generally conservative CoR Party. Pafford did not win a seat in the legislature and as a result resigned the leadership in favour of Danny Cameron who became interim leader. Pafford then unsuccessfully tried to rescind his resignation, but a leadership convention was organized at which Taylor ran as the pro-Pafford candidate and won. His term as leader was brief however as Cameron's supporters on the party executive declared Taylor's victory void and Cameron returned to the leadership.

Though CoR formed the official opposition in the legislature at the time, Taylor was never leader of the opposition, because the House did not sit during his brief tenure. He did however serve as chair of the Public Accounts Committee from 1991 to 1994.[3]

Taylor's relationship with Cameron remained cold and he and caucus colleague Beverly Brine were expelled from the caucus in 1994. Taylor served out the remainder of his term as an independent and did not seek re-election in 1995.

In 2003, he was appointed to serve on the Commission on Legislative Democracy appointed by Progressive Conservative Premier Bernard Lord to examine means to modernize and improve democracy in New Brunswick. The commission, among other things, recommended fixed election dates and a form of mixed member proportional representation. ^

On August 3, 2006, the Fredericton Daily Gleaner reported that Taylor would seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in the riding of Southwest Miramichi for the next provincial election. CoR which was formed in large part by conservatives opposed to the policy of official bilingualism which was supported by the Progressive Conservatives and Taylor had been one of the policy's most vocal critics. However, Taylor said he had moderated his views, stating that he had always supported bilingual services and just did not think that they needed to be enshrined in law but that "I thought that a good government would provide the service anyway. I came to a different conclusion because we can't always guarantee we will have good government."[4]

Despite being billed as a star candidate and receiving much positive media attention, Taylor was unsuccessful in his bid to defeat Liberal incumbent Rick Brewer.

In 2007, he was named to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.[2] He left that position in 2017 to take another job with Veterans Affairs Canada, the same organisation.[5]

Other employment

In the 1980s, he was a late-night radio personality.[6]

Following his departure from electoral politics, Taylor wrote newspaper columns for the Miramichi Leader and the Daily Gleaner.

From April 1998 to February 2007 he was employed by Atlantic Business College in Fredericton, New Brunswick as a director of information systems.[5]

Personal life

Sometime in the 1970s, he climbed to the summit of Mount Washington.[7]

In 1981, he married Janice Helen Price.[1]

Until early October 2019, he appeared with regularity on a YouTube channel called "Post2Post", of whose videos he is considered the co-host, and that was created by his son Neil, where they talk about ice hockey. Taylor is a great fan of the Montreal Canadiens.[8] He is affectionately referred to by fans of the channel as the "GOAT" (an acronym for Greatest of All Time).[9] In a video posted on October 6, 2019, Neil Taylor said that he would be moving from Prince Edward Island to Fredericton, New Brunswick; as a result, it was said that Brent would be appearing less frequently from then on, but both Neil and Brent said that Brent would still make occasional appearances on the channel.[10]

He is a distant relative of American journalist and media personality Anderson Cooper.[11]

gollark: vcmpnleps you, then.
gollark: This is extremely.
gollark: Your body just gets worse and stops self-repairing properly and breaking randomly in irritating ways.
gollark: Plus, even without the dying part, ageing is pretty awful too.
gollark: I mean, I don't want to be *utterly* immortal i.e. will live literally forever when there is nothing else in the universe, but just *dying* after 80 years or whatever is so uncool.

References
  1. O'Handley, Kathryn Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1994 ISBN 0-921925-54-9
  2. "Brent Taylor". Veterans Review and Appeal Board. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
  3. Taylor's bio from the Commission on Legislative Democracy
  4. Daily Gleaner (Fredericton), Former MLA throws hat in the ring, Page A5, August 3, 2006.
  5. Taylor, Brent (26 April 2020). "Linkedin profile". Linkedin. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  6. MorePost2Post, Havin' A Yak Podcast #11 - Interview Tips, Fighting, Best Meals, Crushes + More!, retrieved 2019-02-05
  7. Post2Post (2018-10-30), Mail Time #28, retrieved 2018-11-06
  8. MorePost2Post (2018-04-08), Havin'A Yak Podcast - EP04 - "Sexy Names, Getting Arrested, Embarrassing Stories + More!", retrieved 2018-07-27
  9. NHL Trivia With Brent AKA THE GOAT, retrieved 2019-08-29
  10. Podcast: Ep #83 "Cup Winner Prediction, Moving, World Cup, Game Recaps + More!", retrieved 2019-10-08
  11. Post2Post (2017-07-19), Podcast: EP #12 (with video!) - "Recent NHL News & Brent Is Writing 3 Books!", retrieved 2018-11-12
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