Despite calling a snap election which the left the opposition Tories and NDP caught off guard, the Liberal Party is barely clinging to power in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Liberal Party of Premier Dwight Ball, who was seeking a second term in office, won 20 seats tonight but not enough for a majority. Indeed, the Liberals would lose 7 seats nearly a quarter of their caucus.
The Tories led by Ches Crosbie (the son of former federal Tory cabinet minister John Crosbie) won 15 while the NDP won three despite managing only to run 14 candidates. Allison Coffin quite literally brought the NDP back from the dead. Two former Liberal cabinet members were also elected as independents. Undoubtedly, Ball will try to move Heaven and Earth to bring them back into the Liberal fold or at least plead one of them to run for Speaker of the House. Failing that Ball will have to woo the NDP.
Even if Ball can cobble together a minority government, it is very likely Newfoundlanders will have to go to the polls again in a year or so perhaps sooner. So even if the Liberals win they lose. Tonight was a bad night for Ball but it could also be a bad night for Justin Trudeau. If the Liberals cannot form a new government in Canada's youngest province then the only provincial Liberal government left standing would be in Nova Scotia. Since Trudeau was elected in 2015, the Liberals have lost power in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and most recently in P.E.I. Trudeau might soon join that company in October.
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