Nfld. and Labrador voters head to polls on February 13

Newfoundland and Labrador will become the fourth province to go to the polls during the COVID-19 pandemic after Premier Andrew Furey called an election for Feb. 13.

Furey’s request to the province’s chief justice Friday to dissolve the legislature follows two days of free-flowing funding announcements from the governing minority Liberals.

The Liberal leader is hoping his party will continue the trend established in previous pandemic elections in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and New

Brunswick, where the incumbent parties were all re-elected with majorities.

It will also be the first provincial campaign for Furey, a surgeon, since he was elected Liberal leader in August, replacing premier Dwight Ball.

“This election will be about your choice on leadership,” Furey told reporters. “Who you want to lead the province through the pandemic. Who you want to lead it through the economic challenge. Who you want to sit at the table with the federal Liberal government to strike a new deal.”

He said he chose a Saturday for the vote to give people time to get to the polls and to avoid crowding at polling stations during the pandemic.

Furey’s biggest competition will come from the Opposition Progressive Conservatives, led by lawyer Ches Crosbie, son of the famously outspoken politician John Crosbie.

In an interview Friday, the party’s campaign chair, Shawn Skinner, said COVID-19 has made it tough to raise funds. People in the province don’t have as much cash as they normally do, and large fundraising events aren’t allowed under public health guidelines.

“We’re probably down 20 to 25 per cent of what we would normally raise,” he said.

The pandemic also means the party won’t have a tour bus heading across the province this time. “You’d be a driving petri dish,” Skinner said. Instead, the campaign will rely more on livestreamed events, he added. Candidates will be knocking on doors, but they’ll stand back and give people appropriate space when they answer, he said.

The provincial NDP, led by economist Alison Coffin, made gains in the last general election in May 2019, winning three seats in the legislature after running just 14 candidates in the province’s 40 ridings.