The Liberal takeover of the Atlantic is complete

Share

This is the Globe's daily politics newsletter. Sign up to get it by e-mail each morning.

POLITICS BRIEFING

By Jane Taber (@JaneTaber1)

Dwight Ball and his Liberals swept Newfoundland and Labrador in the provincial election last night, winning a majority government after 12 years of Progressive Conservative rule. With the Liberal win, Atlantic Canada is now completely red, both federally and provincially.

No doubt the happy hangover from Justin Trudeau's victory in the October federal election, when all 32 seats in the four Atlantic provinces went Liberal, helped Mr. Ball win 31 of the 40 provincial ridings. But there was more to his win than Trudeau afterglow.

There was a huge appetite for change among voters and that's what this election was about. It wasn't about policies, platforms or which party had the best strategy for dealing with the province's $1.1-billion deficit and slumping oil prices.

"The election campaign had been really devoid of any real issue discussion," said Amanda Bittner, a political science professor at Memorial University. "So, the thing that we are hearing about over and over again is the desire for change, the desire for change, the desire for change."

Says Abacus Data pollster David Coletto, whose recent polling showed 81 per cent of voters wanted change: "I think 12 years of PC government has taken its toll on voters who do want change more than anything else." (This could be a cautionary tale for governments, such as the Wynne government in Ontario; Liberals have been in power now since 2003.)

In 2011, the PCs won a majority government under leader Kathy Dunderdale, who followed the popular PC premier Danny Williams. But, there was turmoil in the party and Ms. Dunderdale abruptly resigned in January 2014. The PCs had trouble finding her replacement as even then the writing was on the wall for change. Finally, Paul Davis stepped up and was sworn in as premier in September 2014. On Monday, he was among a handful of Tories who were able to hold on to their seats.

Meanwhile, the Grit takeover of the Atlantic began in 2013 when Stephen McNeil's Liberals beat Darrell Dexter and his one-term NDP government in Nova Scotia. The next year in New Brunswick, Liberal Brian Gallant and his team defeated the one-term PC government under David Alward and then, earlier this year, the Liberals were re-elected on Prince Edward Island under a new leader, Wade MacLauchlin.

Now, in the rest of the country only the three Prairie provinces have non-Liberal governments – and as pollster Coletto notes, "the final incumbent party in Canada with 'Conservative' in its name" was defeated.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS MORNING

By Chris Hannay (@channay)

> Political leaders across the country are asking Ottawa not to let all the Syrian refugees settle in just big cities, like Toronto or Montreal. (An addendum to yesterday's note: Quebec could take in up to 6,000 privately sponsored refugees over two years.)

> Governor-General David Johnston is convening a forum today on how Canadians can help Syrian refugees when they get here.

> Newly disclosed emails from Hillary Clinton's office provide more evidence for how little Canada's foreign service liked the Harper government.

> Two nannies who help look after the children of Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau are being paid on the public dime.

> Mr. Trudeau may be giving parliamentary secretaries more authority than they've been given in the past.

> And it's been a year since MPs voted to give Thalidomide survivors their "full support." (The Globe received a Michener Award for bringing their story to light.) So what have those survivors actually received since then?

SECUREDROP

Did you know you can share information with Globe journalists with much more security and anonymity than traditional means? Read more about SecureDrop and encrypted communication.

WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

"Justin Trudeau has taken Paris by storm. Our handsome young leader has polished up Canada's green image and won us international respect – all without committing us to much of anything at all. Which is exactly what this mammoth climate gabfest is about: good intentions, high-flown rhetoric, and zero substance."

– Margaret Wente on the Paris climate summit.

Lawrence Martin (Globe and Mail): "In just four months, the NDP sets down a major marker for its future – whether to keep Tom Mulcair as party leader."

Andrew Coyne (National Post): "Any role we might play in Paris is strictly for show."

Gillian Steward (Toronto Star): "For as groundbreaking as the [Alberta NDP's] new climate change policies are, they also recognize that without the oil industry and continued investment in that sector of the provincial economy, Alberta would not have much of a future."

This newsletter is produced by Chris Hannay and Steve Proceviat.

Welcome to the Globe Politics newsletter! Let us know what you think.