NL AND PEI ELECTIONS OF 2015 IN REVIEW

As a geek for things political, I have to admit to growing a little tired of the Donald Trump fiasco.  It is all doom,gloom and anxiousness wondering what will come next. 

So, a little break from surfing the web and getting caught up in the facts, and alternate facts, being spewed by spinners, politicians, news agencies, bloggers and everything in-between.

I found a couple of good essays in the Canadian Political Science Review related to a pair of Atlantic Canadian Elections. 

The 2015 Newfoundland and Labrador Election: Liberals Have a Ball as PC Party Suffers from Post-Williams Hangover by Memorial's Alex Marland makes for insightful reading. Here is the abstract:

From 2003 to 2010, Premier Danny Williams maintained a tight grip on the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party of Newfoundland and Labrador and the provincial government. His chosen successor Kathy Dunderdale carried the party to a third consecutive majority government in 2011. But the new energy of her leadership masked serious cracks in the PC Party foundation. Barely two years into her mandate, Premier Dunderdale resigned, setting in motion further political instability as the party fumbled to replace her. All the while, Dwight Ball and the Liberal Party won by-election after by-election, public opinion poll after poll. That the Liberals would form the government after the 2015 general election was a certainty; that the opposition won so many seats in a smaller legislature was the surprise. Early in his tenure, Premier Williams often remarked that he was responsible for cleaning up the economic mess left by the previous administration. With growing budget deficits stemming from overspending, coupled with declining offshore oil revenues, the economic problems and difficult decisions awaiting Premier Ball and the Liberal government are just as ominous.

While not related to this province, the journal published a review of the 65th General Election that took place in the Spring of 2015 in Prince Edward Island. The 2015 Provincial Election in Prince Edward Island by Donald Anton Desserud, Jeffery F. Collins. 

While the Liberals won a third straight majority the outcome saw the NDP fail to win a seat while the Green Party leader won a seat in the legislature. Another interesting story that came out of the election that you might find interesting was 

a coin toss that decided the outcome of one seat! Liberal candidate Alan McIsaac's seat in the P.E.I. legislature was affirmed by a coin toss on Tuesday, after a judicial recount revealed a tie against Progressive Conservative incumbent Mary Ellen McInnis.