Tammy Scott-Wallace

Tammy Scott-Wallace is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician who has represented Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick since 2020. Prior to running for politics, Scott-Wallace worked as a journalist, with the majority of those years spent writing for the Kings County Record and the Telegraph-Journal.

Scott-Wallace was a member of the Executive Council of New Brunswick, serving as Minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, as well as Minister responsible for Women's Equality in the cabinet of Blaine Higgs. She is the first woman to be elected to represent the riding of Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins.

Early life

After growing up in Belleisle and graduating from Belleisle Regional High School, Scott-Wallace attended Mount Allison University's political science program before transferring to the journalism program at Holland College. From there, she launched a 25-year career as a journalist, writing for the Kings County Record and Telegraph-Journal for the bulk of her career.

Political career

Following the retirement of long-time Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins MLA Bruce Northrup, Scott-Wallace secured the Progressive Conservative nomination for the riding in the 2020 New Brunswick general election. Despite the riding being known as a conservative stronghold, the unpopularity of scrapped healthcare reform proposals left the party's standing in the region to be questioned. Assuring voters that the proposed changes would not be re-tabled by her party, Scott-Wallace was able to win Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins with a majority of the vote. In doing so, she became the first woman to represent the riding in the provincial legislature.

As a freshman in the legislature, Premier Blaine Higgs appointed Scott-Wallace to his cabinet as Minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture on September 29, 2020. She took over the mandate in the midst of the tourism sector's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Scott-Wallace was also appointed Minister responsible for Women's Equality

In 2024, Scott-Wallace and her deputy minister came under scrutiny from opposition members as a result of a week-long vacation they took to the United Kingdom and France. The trip, which had a total cost of CA$22,527 in taxpayer funds paid by the government, saw the staffers stay at two luxury hotels while additionally billing the government for a British Museum tour as well as for riding the London Eye. The trips, described as "Tourism Mission — Europe" on its financial statement, was critiqued as "a vacation with a few meetings here and there to justify it" by Liberal critic of tourism Isabelle Thériault. Scott-Wallace came under further scrutiny for spending $5,200 in taxpayer dollars to attend a cruise ship conference in Miami, Florida.

Electoral record