Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party

History

Founding

1962–1984

Peter Fenwick years

Jack Harris years

Lorraine Michael

Earle McCurdy

Gerry Rogers

Alison Coffin

Party policies

• Respect and support for families and seniors:
• *Expand prescription drug coverage to an additional 8,750 seniors by investing a further $10 million into the Seniors Drug Card;
• *Extend coverage for expensive medical supplies that people rely on daily, including insulin pumps and glucose test strips; and
• *Address the needs of our aging population by recruiting more gerontologists and increasing gerontology training in the medical school.
• Expanded prescription drug coverage:
• *Cover the cost of insulin pumps for people with type 1 diabetes aged 25 and older. Insulin pumps give people with diabetes more freedom by helping to stabilize symptoms. But their high upfront and out-of pocket costs mean many low and modest income people simply can’t afford them
• *Cover the cost of glucose test strips for uninsured people living with diabetes. Glucose test strips allow people with diabetes to manage their disease and prevent future complications
• An increase to the minimum wage
• *Raise the personal income tax rate for the wealthiest by increasing the rate of the top tax bracket, for those making over $175,000 a year, to 17.3%
• Better benefits for new parents:
• *Provide new parents with an additional $1,000 a month by topping up parental leave benefits to 80%.
• Educational and economic opportunities for young people:
• *Restore $7 million in funding for teaching positions that were cut by the PC government;
• *Invest $7.5 million annually to bring the ratio of school counsellors and psychologists to the recommended levels of support for students
• *Protect the tuition fee freeze and roll back the plan to increase graduate and international graduate student tuition fees next year. We will also roll back the plan to increase residence fees at Memorial University in 2016
• Elimination of the small business tax:
• *Help small businesses grow and create good local jobs by eliminating the small business tax
• *Invest $300,000 to expand access to reliable high-speed internet to more rural schools and communities.
• Steady jobs and a stronger, more stable economy:
• *Lobby the federal government to return to Newfoundland and Labrador our federal offshore holdings, including the 8.5% share of Hibernia oil returns held by the federal government
• A healthy environment:
• *Ban fracking in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Inclusion so nobody is left behind:
• *Invest $500,000 towards replacing the Corner Brook Transition House, which provides invaluable support to women and children in need. The 70-year-old transition house is in a state of disrepair and must be replaced to ensure it can continue serving Corner Brook and the surrounding area;
• *Provide $200,000 in additional funding for women’s centres across the province by reinstating the annual 5% increase and introducing a three-year funding cycle to allow for long-term planning and staff retention

  Representation in the House of Assembly

Electoral performance

Current Newfoundland and Labrador New Democrat MHAs

Historical representation

• Sam Drover, MHA for White Bay, 1955-1956 CCF,
• Peter Fenwick, MHA for Menihek, 1984–1985, 1985–1989
• Gene Long, MHA for St. John's East, 1986–1989
• Jack Harris, MHA for St. John's East, 1990 -1995, Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi 1995-2006
• Randy Collins MHA for Labrador West, 1999–2007
• Lorraine Michael, MHA for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, 2006–2015; St. John's East-Quidi Vidi, 2015–2019
• Dale Kirby, MHA for St. John's North, 2011-2013
• Christopher Mitchelmore, MHA for The Straits-White Bay North, 2011-2013
• George Murphy, MHA for St. John's East, 2011–2015
• Gerry Rogers, MHA for St. John's Centre, 2011–2019

  Relationship with the federal party

• Fonse Faour, who won a by-election in 1978 in the federal riding of Humber—St. George's—St. Barbe, and was re-elected the following year in the 1979 federal election in the renamed riding of Humber—Port au Port—St. Barbe. Faour was defeated in the subsequent 1980 federal election. He then went on to serve as leader of the provincial party.
• Jack Harris, won a 1987 by-election in the riding of St. John's East, but was defeated the following year in the 1988 federal election. Harris served as leader of the provincial party before being re-elected to represent St. John's East in the 2008 federal election.

  Leaders

• Sam Drover, 1955–1956. Although not elected as leader of the party, Samuel Drover effectively led the NL NDP's predecessor party, the CCF, in the 1956 provincial election. In 1955, Drover had crossed the floor from the Liberal Party to sit in the opposition as a CCF MHA.
• Ed Finn, Jr., 1959–1963. Ed Finn became co-leader of the Newfoundland Democratic Party upon its inception in 1959, and assumed the leadership of the CCF and the New Democratic Party. Finn narrowly lost his bid for a seat in the House of Assembly in the 1962 provincial election when he ran for the NL NDP in Humber West. He left Newfoundland and Labrador in 1963 to pursue a career as a labour researcher, writer, and journalist.
• Calvin Normore, 1963—1966, led the party during the 1966 provincial election. Head of the Corner Brook Labor Council and vice-president of the Newfoundland Federation of Labour, he had been co-leader of the Newfoundland Democratic Party in 1959.
• Esau Thoms, 1966–1970. A founding member of the Newfoundland Democratic Party in the late 1950s and one of the province's foremost labour organizers, Esau Thoms had contested two federal elections for the CCF. From 1966 to 1970, the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party was without a formal leader, relying instead upon local committees throughout the province, but Thoms was essentially de facto leader. He was a consistently outspoken voice for social democracy and social justice until his death in 1979.
• John Connors, 1970–1974. John Connors took the reins of the party in 1970 at a difficult time, as the electorate became sharply divided over whether to continue supporting the Liberal Party. Connors was a candidate for the NL NDP in the 1968 federal election, and was one of only three NL NDP candidates in the 1972 provincial campaign. He later pursued a career at the Marine Institute.
• Gerry Panting, 1974–1977. Gerald Panting led the party from 1974 to 1977. Panting was a distinguished historian and founder of the Maritime History Group at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He ran for the NL NDP provincially five times, coming in a strong second in the 1975 general election. A dedicated party builder, Panting remained active within the NL NDP until his death in 1998.
• John Greene, 1977–1980. John Greene led the NL NDP from 1977 to 1980 and played a significant role in building the party. He came close to winning a seat in the House of Assembly, giving a strong showing in the televised leaders debate. Due to his leadership the NL NDP became a recognized provincial party. This helped set the stage for the party's later electoral success. Greene later became an author and remained active in various human rights organizations.
• Fonse Faour, 1980–1981. Fonse Faour served a one-year term a leader from 1980 to 1981 after serving as the party's first Member of Parliament from Newfoundland and Labrador in the House of Commons. He was elected as an MP in 1978 and 1979, and was defeated in the 1980 general election. Faour later worked in senior positions with the provincial public service and served as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the Public Service Commission. In 2003, Faour was appointed to the trial division of the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court.
• Peter Fenwick, 1981–1989. Leader from 1981 to 1989, in 1984 Fenwick set a landmark in provincial history by becoming the first New Democrat to be elected to the House of Assembly, sitting as the member for the former Labrador district of Menihek. He was re-elected in 1985. An outspoken leader, he was jailed in 1986 along with union representatives who participated in a strike by the Newfoundland Association of Public Employees.
• Cle Newhook 1989–1992. Cle Newhook served as party leader from 1989 to 1992 after working full-time as the party's provincial secretary from 1986 to 1988. As a candidate in several elections, and through work as leader and provincial secretary, he played a major role in the party's development throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Newhook now works as a consultant in St. John's.
• Jack Harris, 1992–2006. First elected as Member of Parliament for St. John's East in 1987, he was elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly in the 1990 provincial election and was acclaimed leader of the NL NDP in 1992. He was re-elected to the Legislature in the 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2003 elections. In October 2008, Harris was a second time elected Member of Parliament for the riding of St. John's East receiving 74.1% of the vote—the fifth-highest winning percentage in Canada.
• Lorraine Michael, 2006–2015, 2017-2018 . Upon winning the NL NDP leadership election in May 2006, Michael later won the by-election for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi in November of that year. She was re-elected in her riding in the 2007 general election, and in the 2011 election a record five NDP MHAs were elected by the voters. She resigned as leader in 2015 but was re-elected as MHA. Following McCurdy's resignation in September 2017, Michael was named interim leader.
• Earle McCurdy, 2015—2017. McCurdy won the leadership in 2015. He had been president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union from 1993 to 2014.
• Gerry Rogers, 2018—2019. MHA for St. John's Centre.
• Alison Coffin, 2019—present. Economist and runner-up in the 2018 leadership election. Was acclaimed leader following Rogers's resignation in 2019. MHA for St. John’s East - Quidi Vidi.