| Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador | |
|---|---|
Active provincial party |
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| Leader | Dwight Ball (interim) |
| President | Judy Morrow |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters | 21 Mews Place St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador A1B 4N2 |
| Ideology | Liberalism |
| Political position | Centre to Centre-left |
| Official colours | Red |
| Seats in House of Assembly |
6 / 48
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| Website | |
| Official website | |
| Politics of Newfoundland and Labrador Political parties Elections |
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The Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador is a political party in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada and the provincial wing of the Liberal Party of Canada. It is the Official Opposition and currently holds six seats in the provincial legislature.
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The party originated in 1948 as the Newfoundland Confederate Association. At this time, Newfoundland was being governed by a Commission of Government appointed by the Government of the United Kingdom. The NCA was an organization campaigning for Newfoundland to join Canadian confederation. Joey Smallwood was the NCA's chief organizer and spokesman, and led the winning side of the 1948 Newfoundland referendum on Confederation.
Following the referendum victory, the NCA reorganized itself as the new province's Liberal Party under Smallwood's leadership. It won the province's first post-Confederation election for the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly held in May 1949.
The Liberals under Smallwood promoted the diversification of the province's economy through various megaprojects. The provincial government invested in the construction of factories, the pulp and paper industry, the oil industry, hydro-electricity projects, the construction of highways and schools, the relocation of rural villages into larger centres, and other projects. These projects were often very expensive, and yielded few results.
Smallwood grew increasingly autocratic during his 22 years in power. Disaffection with Smallwood, his party and even his government mounted within the province. He announced his retirement in 1969, only to run in the contest to succeed himself. Smallwood defeated John Crosbie for the leadership.
Crosbie and many young Liberals defected to the opposition Progressive Conservatives. The Conservatives had previously found support largely in the business community, and in and around St. John's.
The Liberals narrowly lost the 1971 election, but Smallwood refused to resign as Premier until January 1972 as the support of the Labrador Party's lone MHA resulted in a 21-21 tie in the House of Assembly for Smallwood's government. Frank Moores' Conservatives attempted to form government but its shaky hold on power resulted in the 1972 general election in which Smallwood's Liberals were conclusively, if narrowly, defeated.[1]
Smallwood was forced out of the party, and formed his own Newfoundland Reform Liberal Party, which ran in the 1975 general election against the Liberals and the Tories. The Liberals were badly split and demoralised, and remained on the opposition benches until 1989.
In 1989, the party returned to power under the leadership of Clyde Wells.
Under Wells, the Liberal government eschewed the megaprojects and spending of the Smallwood, Moores and Peckford eras in favour of an economic development program laid out in the Strategic Economic Plan. During a severe economic recession, the Wells administration introduced spending controls and reduced the size of the public service while at the same time maintaining social program spending and working to diversify and develop the economy.
In September 1990, Wells signed a development agreement for the Hibernia project, thereby laying the foundation for the province's oil and gas industry and future economic prosperity.
Wells rose to national prominence in early 1990 for his opposition to the Meech Lake constitutional Accord.
When Wells retired in 1996, he was replaced by former federal Liberal cabinet minister Brian Tobin. Tobin returned to federal politics in 2000, after only four years as Premier.
When Premier Tobin left the provincial Liberal Party to return to federal politics, it created an opening for the party to elect a new leader who would served as Premier. From 2000 to 2001, Beaton Tulk served as interim leader and Premier. In 2001 the party held a leadership convention to choose from three candidates:
Grimes won the leadership and became Liberal Party leader and Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, by defeating Efford by 14 votes in a fierce and divisive contest.[2] Efford and contestant Dicks subsequently left provincial politics saying they could not work with Grimes.
Grimes was sworn in as the province's premier Feb. 13, 2001.[3] During his government the name of the province was officially changed to Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 2003, the federal government declared a moratorium on the last remaining cod fishery in Atlantic Canada in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. While Newfoundland and Labrador was again the most directly affected province by this decision, communities on Quebec's North Shore and in other parts of Atlantic Canada also faced difficulties.
Grimes called for a review of the Act of Union by which the province had become a part of Canada and on July 2, 2003, the findings of the Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada (which Grimes had created in 2002) were released. Critics called this inquiry the "Blame Canada Commission".
Grimes often clashed with the federal Liberal government of Jean Chrétien and became increasingly critical of his predecessor, Brian Tobin. When Grimes accused the federal government of bias in the Gulf of St. Lawrence cod moratorium, many even in Newfoundland and Labrador saw him as stirring up unnecessary trouble for political gain. After the Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada, Grimes' popularity began to decline as his increasingly confrontational approach made it more difficult to win concessions from the federal government.
By 2003, the Liberals had spent fourteen years in power under four different leaders. Public disaffection had mounted resulting in their electoral defeat by Danny Williams and the Tories. Grimes stayed on as Liberal leader until his retirement on May 30, 2005, when he was replaced, initially on an interim basis, by Gerry Reid.
Reid did not initially stand for the position of leader on a permanent basis, and in February 2006, lawyer Jim Bennett was acclaimed as party leader. However, Bennett resigned just over three months later after many differences of opinion with the Liberal Party caucus. Reid then resumed the leadership, now on a permanent basis, and lead the party into the next election.
In the October 2007 provincial election, the Liberal Party's support fell to its lowest level since Confederation. The party won just three of the 48 seats in the House of Assembly. Reid resigned as leader after losing his seat, and Yvonne Jones was named interim leader.
With only three members re-elected following the 2007 general election the party decided that Jones would stand as the party's leader on an interim basis, and therefore as the Official Opposition Leader in the House of Assembly. Jones became the first woman to serve as the leader of the Liberals and only the second woman to serve as Official Opposition Leader.
Seven by-elections have been held since Jones took over the leadership of the Liberal Party, each one to replace a Tory MHA. Six of the by-elections were won by a Progressive Conservative candidate and the Liberals won one. The by-election they won was held on October 27, 2009 in the district of The Straits - White Bay North. The by-election was held to replace Minister of Transportation and Works, Trevor Taylor, who resigned on October 2, 2009.[4] Liberal candidate Marshall Dean squaked out a win taking 1,975 votes compared to 1,799 for PC candidate Rick Pelley. The by-election was mostly focused on Premier Williams' plan to make cuts to rural health care in this area.[5] He announced days before the by-election he would not make cuts to the district's rural health care after protests from residents.[6]
A leadership convention was scheduled for the spring of 2008, but due to lack of interest in the leadership the convention was delayed.[7] The convention was rescheduled for November 2010 with nominations closing on July 30, 2011. On July 9, 2010, Yvonne Jones officially submitted nomination papers, and with the close of nominations at the end of the month she was the only candidate to file nomination papers and was acclaimed leader.[8] Jones announced weeks later she had breast cancer and the leadership election was postponed till May 2011. On May 25, 2011, she was sworn in as the permanent leader of the party.[9][10][11]
On August 9, 2011, Jones resigned as leader to due to her health. That night the executive of the party decided the process of choosing the next leader, nominations for the leadership opened on August 10, 2011, and Kevin Aylward was chosen by the executive on August 14, 2011. Aylward led the party into the October 11, 2011, election, where the Progressive Conservatives won their third straight majority. While the party managed to gain seats in the election and remain the Official Opposition, they placed third in the popular vote, behind the NDP, winning only 19.1 per cent.[12] On October 26, 2011, Aylward announced his resignation as leader after failing to win the district of St. George's-Stephenville East in the election.[13]
In Decenber 2011, the party announced that Humber Valley MHA Dwight Ball would assume the role as Leader of the Official Opposition and interim leader of the Liberal Party on January 3, 2012.[14] [15] Party president Judy Morrow announced in November 2011, that the party will likely not a hold a leadership election to name their permanent leader till sometime in 2013.[16]
Smallwood, Wells, Tobin, Tulk, Grimes have been both leader and Premier.
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