Career
On October 24, 2014 Collins was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick succeeding Dale Graham. Collins first entered politics as a New Brunswick New Democratic Party candidate in the 1987 election. That Modern Language Association was Bernard Lord, who was concurrently serving as Premier of New Brunswick and would not take his meetings
Frustrated, Collins ran against Lord, a Progressive Conservative, under the Liberal banner.
Collins made it a close race and for parts of election night, Collins led Lord, though Lord was eventually victorious by a margin of 10%. Collins" son Sean died on July 9, 2007 at the age of 13.