The electoral district was created in 1996 from portions of the old ridings of Carleton—Charlotte, Fredericton—York—Sunbury, and Madawaska—Victoria. Its creation was very controversial, as it included areas with both large anglophone and francophone populations, while neighbouring communities were placed in other ridings. This seemingly went against the "communities of interest" criterion in drawing electoral boundaries.
On two separate occasions Tobique—Mactaquac has been involved in party nomination controversies. In the 1997 election, the Liberals were alleged to have rigged their meeting to choose Pierrette Ringuette-Maltais, the Member of Parliament for the defunct Madawaska—Victoria riding. The meeting was held in Grand Falls, near her hometown and at the far northern end of the riding. Because of sound problems, only her speech was carried over the loudspeakers. Ringuette-Maltais lost the election to Gilles Bernier of the Progressive Conservatives.
In the 2004 election, the Conservative Party selected Adam Richardson, who had run for the Canadian Alliance in the 2000 election, but national head office refused to sign his nomination papers, apparently because of Richardson's demands that Stephen Harper apologize for comments about Atlantic Canadians. The eventual Conservative candidate, Mike Allen, lost to Liberal incumbent Andy Savoy.
Changes from 2000 are based on redistributed results. Conservative Party change is based on the combination of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party totals.