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Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Leader Dwight Ball arrives at the airport in Deer Lake, N.L., after 24 days on the election campaign, on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015. The provincial election will be held on Monday, Nov. 30, 2015.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press

The Progressive Conservatives in Newfoundland and Labrador try to extend their 12 years in office on Monday when voters go to the polls while the Liberals attempt to build on the momentum from a string of byelection wins over the last two years.

Tory Leader Paul Davis, a former police officer, became premier 13 months ago, replacing Kathy Dunderdale.

He is facing Liberal Leader Dwight Ball and NDP Leader Earle McCurdy, who are also running in their first elections as leaders of their parties.

Ball and Davis voted in their districts of Humber-Gros Morne and Conception Bay South, while McCurdy was scheduled to vote at noon at a church in the riding of St. John's West.

The province's economy has been among the biggest campaign issues.

A drop in world oil prices has dealt a blow to the province's offshore energy sector, which accounts for one third of the provincial budget in 2013.

RBC has said the cost of the oil price slump meant $1.5 billion in lost revenue for the province in 2015-16.

If he wins the election, Ball would join Liberal premiers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

He is also trying to ride a wave of support for the party that saw it win all 32 federal ridings in Atlantic Canada in last month's federal election.

During the campaign, Ball was the target of attacks from Davis and McCurdy, a former union leader who is trying to win a seat in the legislature for the first time. Both accuse Ball of lacking substantive ideas on how to improve the province's flagging economy.

Ball, a businessman who operated pharmacies, has promise to scrap plans for an increase in the province's harmonized sales tax that the Tories promised to bring in next year.

The number of seats in the legislature has been cut from 48 to 40 under redistribution.

At dissolution, the Tories had 28 seats in the legislature, the Liberals 16, and the New Democrats three. One seat was vacant.

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