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The first candidate to throw his name into the hat for leadership of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party is looking to get his name known and solicit feedback from New Brunswickers.

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James Mallory/Northern Light Photo

David Alward, a candidate for the leadership of New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative Party.The leadership convention will be held Oct. 18 in Fredericton at the Aitkent Centre.

Woodstock MLA David Alward officially began his leadership chase on June 19 and he has been touring the province since, including a stop in Bathurst earlier this month.

"Politics is all about people and very much is gets right down to the heart of our values, our families and our communities," said Mr. Alward during an editorial meeting with The Northern Light. "Because of that, I'm spending the summer in a different corner of New Brunswick literally every day, every week."

Mr. Alward was first elected to the Provincial Legislature in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003, becoming minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture in the government of former premier Bernard Lord. He was re-elected in the 2006 provincial election, which saw Shawn Graham's Liberals take power.

Former finance minister Jennolt Volpe is the interim Opposition leader until the the PC leadership convention on Oct. 18. Mr. Alward said he's taken on the PC leadership bid because he wants to be what he described as a bridge builder for the province.

"I look at what's going on in our province right now and I believe we have barriers that are growing that haven't been here for a long time. We have gaps or chasms that are building and I'm a bridge builder," he said.

Some examples of increasing gaps according to Mr. Alward is the divide between rural and urban New Brunswick or the north and south part of the province.

"We certainly see the economic development opportunities taking place between the Moncton to Saint John corridor and those opportunities are excellent and we need that to have a strong New Brunswick but we can't only have a strong corridor in the south western part of the province if we're going to be a strong province.

"We've also got the gap between the north and the south that is widening. There's also a barrier growing that hasn't been here for many years and that's what's going on based on some of the decisions the current government have made on education, health care, post-secondary education."

The popularity of the PC's has suffered in recent years but Mr. Alward believes he can help bring things around. He also noted that the popularity of the governing Liberals is turning for the worst.

"We've got a great opportunity as a party because we have a government that I believe is reckless if you look at a number of decisions they've taken."

Mr. Alward, a married father of two, is currently the Tory critic for agriculture and aquaculture. He owns a small farm in the Woodstock area where purebred Hereford cattle aare raised and he also owns and operate a small woodlot

"I believe agriculture can play a vital role again in New Brunswick. Certainly that's something that's important to me but it's not the only thing that I feel very passionate about."

Mr. Alward said he doesn't have any specific ideas for northern New Brunswick at present, noting that after the PC campaign convention, the party will go into policy development for the regions. However, he did say forestry, which is prominent to this region, is on his radar.

"I don't believe that forestry should be dead. I look at he value of our woods have for energy...We have a tremendous resource that's renewable, it's green...and we certainly be more affective of how we manage our resources."

Mr. Alward said he hopes to get a better understanding of regional issues and noted that's the reason he wanted to get a head start on the other leadership hopefuls.

"I jumped into the race early on and I've been taking a lot of time to go out and meet with people, to reach out to people, to give them a sense of what I'm about but also listening to them about what's going on in their communities."

Mr. Alward has an arts degree with a major in psychology. He has previously worked for the federal government and worked as a self-employed community development consultant.

Another former Tory cabinet minister, Riverview MLA Bruce Fitch, joined the leadership race last week.