Newfoundland and Labrador premier Scott Ball is going for a second term for the Liberal Party in calling a spring election on May 16 for the province.
Ball's challengers have had precious little time in party leadership. Ches Crosbie has been leader of the Progressive Conservatives for days short of a year. NDP leader Alison Coffin has been in charge of the party since March 5.
The NL Alliance party just got officially registered. NL Alliance leader Graydon Pelley will only have a smattering of candidates.
The Liberals start with 27 seats, down from 31 in the 2015 election. The Progressive Conservatives have 8 seats, up from 7 in the last election. The NDP has 2 seats, same as the 2015 election results.
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NDP leader Alison Coffin is running in the St. John's East-Quidi Vidi riding as current incumbent and former party leader Lorraine Michael is not running for re-election. The other NDP member is Gerry Rogers from St. John's Centre. Rogers is also a former party leader and not running for re-election.
The Liberals 2015 win came on the heels of a federal election and was a complete turn around flip from PCs to Liberal. The PCs had been in power from 2003-2015. 40 seats are up for grabs in this election.
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The Liberals had been hinting the election would flip from fall to spring to not clash with the federal election. Even with the hint, the other parties are not as ready in terms of fielding candidates.
The ruling Liberals just tabled a budget, which will not be passed unless the party wins re-election.
Earlier this month, the province renewed the Atlantic Accord agreement with the federal government on offshore resource revenues. Newfoundland and Labrador has had crippling debt in part due to falling oil prices.
Newfoundland and Labrador will receive $2.5 billion over 38 years: front-loaded so the province receives 60% within the first year. That does mean $1.5 billion within the next 12 months but only $40,540,541 on average each year for the next 37 years.
Video lottery terminals (VLT) may become a campaign issue. The gambling terminals in bars are a huge source of income to the province but come at a society price.
Progressive Conservative Leader Ches Crosbie says VLTs would not be allowed "until they're safe" if he becomes premier. Crosbie was the original lawyer behind the current class-action lawsuit against the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, the entity that runs the machines in Eastern Canada.
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The May 16 election will fall during the Stanley Cup playoffs. NHL fans in Newfoundland and Labrador will have to rely on other CBC affiliates or stream the game on cbcsports.ca. The province only has 2 over-the-air stations: CBNT (CBC) and CJON (NTV-Newfoundland television) licensed to St. John's.
photo credit: me
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