McKenna was born in Apohaqui, New Brunswick, Canada. He was raised in the home of his grandparents, who lived adjacent to his parents because his large family could not be wholly housed in his parents\' home. After completing high school in Sussex, New Brunswick, he completed a bachelor\'s degree in Political Science and Economics at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He began graduate studies at Queen\'s University in Kingston, Ontario, but after working for a stint with Allan MacEachen, he took MacEachen\'s advice that most politicians are lawyers and enrolled in law school at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. After he obtained a law degree, he moved to Chatham, New Brunswick, and began the practice of law. He became famous and something of a folk hero, particularly among Acadians, as the defence lawyer in the high-profile murder case of famous New Brunswick boxing champion, Yvon Durelle, in what was a widely publicized case.\n', '

A few years later, he entered provincial politics and won a seat in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 1982 election to represent Chatham, New Brunswick. He became leader of the provincial Liberals in 1985, and won one of the largest electoral victories in Canadian history in the 1987 election when his party won every seat in the legislature.\n', '

McKenna\'s term in office was viewed mostly as a success. His key priority throughout his term was job creation and he was known to say that the "best social program we have is a job." He encouraged small business growth and tried to entice large companies to invest in the province with tax incentives, often directly calling individual professionals to urge them to bring their talents to New Brunswick. Another of his strategies was to raise the collective self-confidence of New Brunswickers, which he believed would increase productivity. He introduced a sophisticated public relations operation which included the use of controversial video news releases. He was criticized for increasing the number of communications personnel on the government payroll but countered this complaint by pointing out that the primary government communications agency, Communications New Brunswick, had been depoliticized. Communications New Brunswick had been responsible to the Premier\'s chief of staff in past governments and McKenna made its report to the head of the civil service. He was also criticized for creating a toll free telephone number to the premier\'s office which had the number 1-800-MCKENNA, the number was functional throughout North America and was used for both New Brunswick constituents and business interests that were considering moving to the province.\n', '

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