# Andy Scott (politician)

Robert Andrew Keith Scott PC (March 16, 1955 – June 24, 2013) was a Liberal Member of Parliament who represented the electoral district of Fredericton from 1993 to 2008. He was a member the Cabinet of Canada, most recently serving as the eighteenth Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (2004–2006).

## Early life

Scott was born in 1955 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and grew up in Barker's Point, a working-class neighbourhood. He was the only son in a family of four children. His parents both supported the Liberal Party, with his father especially an avid volunteer. The family business involved making cement blocks and fireplaces for houses. His father also volunteered for a summer camp for disabled children.

## Political career

In the late 1980s, he was a senior civil servant with the provincial Liberal government of Frank McKenna. He ran in the 1993 federal election and won convincingly, becoming the first Liberal MP elected in Fredericton since 1957.
He was re-elected in the 1997 election and was named Solicitor General of Canada. In 1998, New Democratic Party MP Dick Proctor said he overheard Scott on an airplane talking about several sensitive national matters, including the then-ongoing Vancouver Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) inquiry. Scott was alleged to have stated that several Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers (who had used pepper spray against protesters) would take the blame at the end of it all. He denied prejudging the outcome, but later resigned his post as Solicitor General.
In an incident in the fall of 2003, Scott was hospitalised after being physically assaulted by a constituent angry over his government's support for same-sex marriage.
Scott returned to the Cabinet in December 2003, when he was named Minister of State for Infrastructure by Paul Martin. Following the 2004 federal election, he was promoted to the position of Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
On March 5, 2007, he announced that he would not seek re-election in the 2008 federal election.

## After politics

On October 22, 2008, it was announced that Andy Scott would assume a research post in social policy at the University of New Brunswick.

## Death

Scott died of cancer on June 24, 2013, at the age of 58, from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

## Electoral history

vte2006 Canadian federal election: Fredericton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Liberal | Andy Scott | 19,649 | 41.80 | -4.95 | $63,544.32 |
| | Conservative | Pat Lynch | 16,292 | 34.66 | +1.18 | $57,563.68 |
| | New Democratic | John Carty | 9,988 | 21.25 | +3.89 | $33,143.96 |
| | Green | Philip Duchastel | 884 | 1.88 | -0.47 | none listed |
| | Independent | David Raymond Amos | 198 | 0.42 | – | none listed |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 47,011 | 100.0 | | $75,043 |
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 207 | 0.44 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 47,218 | 67.99 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 69,453 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | Swing | -3.06 |
vte2004 Canadian federal election: Fredericton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Liberal | Andy Scott | 19,819 | 46.75 | +8.97 | $60,726.40 |
| | Conservative | Kent Fox | 14,193 | 33.48 | -21.22 | $61,658.27 |
| | New Democratic | John Carty | 7,360 | 17.36 | +10.41 | $21,188.88 |
| | Green | Daron Letts | 997 | 2.35 | – | $1,194.22 |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 42,396 | 100.0 | | $73,437 |
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 264 | 0.62 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 42,633 | 61.82 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 68,968 |
| | Liberal notional hold | Liberal notional hold | Swing | Swing | +15.10 |
| Changes from 2000 are based on redistributed results. Conservative Party change is based on the combination of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party totals. |||||||
vte2000 Canadian federal election: Fredericton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Andy Scott | 14,175 | 38.60 | +4.48 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Raj Venugopal | 10,919 | 29.73 | -0.44 |
| | Alliance | Allan Neill | 8,814 | 24.00 | +2.24 |
| | New Democratic | Michael Dunn | 2,584 | 7.04 | -6.02 |
| | Natural Law | William Parker | 233 | 0.63 | -0.26 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 36,725 | 100.00 |
| Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | 213 | 0.58 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 36,938 | 62.8 |
Change for the Canadian Alliance is based on the 1997 results of its predecessors, the Reform Party.
vte1997 Canadian federal election: Fredericton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Andy Scott | 12,252 | 34.12 | -12.54 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Cleveland Allaby | 10,835 | 30.17 | +0.95 |
| | Reform | Mark McCready | 7,815 | 21.76 | +4.74 |
| | New Democratic | Patricia Hughes | 4,689 | 13.06 | +8.06 |
| | Natural Law | Jeanne Geldart | 321 | 0.89 | +0.07 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 35,912 | 100.00 |
Change from 1993 is not based on redistributed results.
vte1993 Canadian federal election: Fredericton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Andy Scott | 21,868 | 46.66 | +6.94 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Bud Bird | 13,696 | 29.22 | -13.76 |
| | Reform | Jack Lamey | 7,977 | 17.02 | Ø |
| | New Democratic | Pauline MacKenzie | 2,343 | 5.00 | -5.32 |
| | Natural Law | Neil Dickie | 382 | 0.82 | Ø |
| | Canada Party | Steven Gillrie | 373 | 0.80 | Ø |
| | Independent | Doreen Fraser | 226 | 0.48 | -5.30 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 46 865 | 100.00 |
Doreen Fraser was nominated as a Confederation of Regions candidate, but was listed as an Independent because that party did not run enough candidates to be officially recognized.