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2007 Newfoundland and Labrador provincial by-elections

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Five provincial by-elections were held in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2007, following vacancies in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. Three took place on February 8, and two took place on February 13.

In addition, one special election took place on November 6, 2007, following the death of a candidate during the general election campaign in October.

Ferryland by-election, February 8, 2007
resignation of Loyola Sullivan
Party Candidate Votes % +/-
  Progressive Conservative Keith Hutchings 2,770 75.5
  Liberal Kevin Bennett 715 19.5
  New Democrat Rick Boland 183 5.0
Kilbride by-election, February 8, 2007
resignation of Ed Byrne
Party Candidate Votes % +/-
  Progressive Conservative John Dinn 2,744 78.8
  Liberal Bob Clarke 508 14.6
  New Democrat Gemma Schlamp-Hickey 229 6.6
Port au Port by-election, February 8, 2007
resignation of Jim Hodder
Party Candidate Votes % +/-
  Progressive Conservative Tony Cornect 2,701 62.0
  Liberal Mark Felix 1,521 34.9
  New Democrat Paul O'Keefe 135 3.1

At first, it was announced that Darryl Kelly, the PC candidate, had won the election by a margin of twelve votes; however, it turned out that this was a mistake and that Dwight Ball, the Liberal candidate, had won by a margin of eighteen votes instead.[1] Turnout was 62 per cent.[2] Due to the close result of the by-election (which turned out to have been won by a margin of only nine votes in the official result), a judicial recount was ordered for March 1–2, 2007,[3] which resulted in a reduction of Ball's lead to seven votes.[4]

In the general election on October 9, however, Kelly defeated Ball by a 254-vote margin.

Humber Valley by-election, February 13, 2007
Resignation of Kathy Goudie
Party Candidate Votes % +/-
  Liberal Dwight Ball 2,153 48.7
  Progressive Conservative Darryl Kelly 2,146 48.5
  New Democrat Shelley Senior 122 2.8

The NDP campaign suffered a number of mishaps, most notably the decision of their presumed candidate Karen Oldford to run for the Liberals instead, and the president of the United Steelworkers union local at Wabush Mines choosing to endorse the Labrador Party instead of the NDP.[5]

Labrador West by-election, February 13, 2007
resignation of Randy Collins
Party Candidate Votes % +/-
  Progressive Conservative Jim Baker 1,666 41.6
  New Democrat Darrel Brenton 1,240 31.0
  Labrador Party Ron Barron 670 16.7
  Liberal Karen Oldford 427 10.7

During the general election campaign, Liberal candidate Gerry Tobin died on October 1. As a result, the election was deferred in this district from October 9 to November 6. The new Liberal candidate, John Woodrow, withdrew from the race on November 3 after it was revealed that he had previously made false allegations of bribery against MHA Beaton Tulk in 1998,[6] but then revived his campaign on November 5 after learning that it was too late to actually remove his name from the ballot.[7]

Grand Falls-Windsor-Buchans special election, November 6, 2007
Party Candidate Votes % +/-
  Progressive Conservative Susan Sullivan 2,767 71.83
  New Democrat Junior C. Downey 922 23.93
  Liberal John J. Woodrow 163 4.23

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "cnews.canoe.ca".
  2. ^ "Election Night Results". Releases.gov.nl.ca. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  3. ^ "Judicial recount set for Humber Valley ballots". CBC News. Archived from the original on February 25, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2007.
  4. ^ "Liberal declared winner in Humber Valley recount". CBC News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2007.
  5. ^ "NDP support leaking to Labrador Party: union official". Archived from the original on February 28, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2007.
  6. ^ "Woodrow withdraws from race", Exploits Valley Advertiser, November 5, 2007.
  7. ^ "Stuck on ballot, Liberal candidate revives campaign", Cbc.ca, November 5, 2007.