MONCTON, N.B.- He had his ups and downs but overall Victor Boudreau is pleased with his time as interim leader of the New Brunswick Liberal party.

Boudreau will pass the torch to the newly-minted Liberal leader after this weekend’s leadership convention in Moncton.

He says the next Liberal leader needs to build on the momentum the party is seeming to build in the province. “There’s wind in our sails, so to speak”, says Boudreau. “There’s still work to be done leading up to 2014 and the next election. I think the next leader is going to have to spend a lot of time communicating with members and with stakeholders to help us build our next platform”.

The leadership convention gets underway tonight at Casino New Brunswick with a dinner in honour of Boudreau and former Liberal premier Shawn Graham.

19-thousand registered voters will decide who the next Liberal leader will be.