Hon. Donald Arseneault
Minister of Natural Resources

Donald Arseneault is a Liberal MLA who represents the constituency of Dalhousie-Restigouche East.

He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the provincial election held June 9, 2003. He was re-elected in the provincial election held Sept. 18, 2006.

While he was a member of the Official Opposition, he was the critic for interests relating to tourism, human resources, intergovernmental affairs and international relations and the Regional Development Corp. He also served as Caucus Chair. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Crown Corporations and vice-president of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie for New Brunswick.

He was born in Dalhousie, New Brunswick, and is the son of Jacques Arseneault of Balmoral, and Ghislaine Godin of Maisonnette. A graduate of Polyvalente Aux quatre vents, he studied business administration for two years at the Université de Moncton before moving on to the Dieppe Community College, where he completed the three-year co-op marketing program.

He returned home to serve as an economic development officer with the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Culture in Dalhousie.

During this time, he became the first person in New Brunswick to earn the certification of Business Retention and Expansion Master Consultant through Business Retention & Expansion International (BREI), a nonprofit professional association of economic development professionals working for the advancement of business retention and expansion (BR&E;) as an economic development strategy for communities. He co-ordinated efforts to put in place the BR&E; program in six pilot communities in New Brunswick, including one in Dalhousie.

He transferred to the Department of Training and Employment Development as the marketing director with the NBCC-Dieppe, and later returned to northern New Brunswick as a marketing and communications adviser with the Mouvement des caisses populaires acadienes.

He has been active in his community, where he has coached little league baseball and softball at both Dalhousie high schools. He was a member of the Dalhousie Business Improvement Area Corp., Business Retention & Expansion International, and the Dalhousie Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Arseneault and his wife, Misty McAlister, of Nash Creek, have two young sons, Matthew and Madison.