Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly

Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
50th General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador
Type
Type	Lower house (1832–1934) then unicameral house of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador
History
Founded	1832; 192 years ago
Leadership
Speaker	Derek Bennett, Liberal ; since April 12, 2021
Premier	Andrew Furey, Liberal ; since August 19, 2020
Leader of the Opposition	Tony Wakeham, Progressive Conservative ; since October 14, 2023
Government House Leader	Steve Crocker, Liberal ; since August 19, 2020
Opposition House Leader	Barry Petten, Progressive Conservative ; since April 12, 2021
Structure
Seats	40
Political groups	Government Liberal (22); Official Opposition Progressive Conservative (14); Others New Democratic (2); Independent (2);
Elections
Last election	March 25, 2021
Next election	On or before November 24, 2025
Meeting place
	Colonial Building (1850–1959); Confederation Building (1959–present)
Website
	www.assembly.nl.ca

The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly (French: Chambre d'assemblée de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador) is the unicameral deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.^[1] It meets in the Confederation Building in St. John's. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, in the name of the King of Canada.^[2]

The governing party sits on the left side of the speaker of the House of Assembly as opposed to the traditional right side of the speaker. This tradition dates back to the 1850s as the heaters in the Colonial Building were located on the left side. Thus, the government chose to sit near the heat, and leave the opposition sitting in the cold.^[3]

Homes of Legislature

Before 1850 the legislature has sat at various locations including Mary Travers' tavern on Duckworth Street across from War Memorial 1832, St. John's Court House (at Duckworth and Church Hill) from 1833 to 1846, a building on southwest corner of Water Street and Prescott Street (since replaced with office building) and the site of the former St. Patrick’s Hall on Queen’s Road and Garrison Hill (demolished and replace by current building 1880^[4]).

Permanent homes of the legislature, Confederation Building and Colonial Building, are the only surviving structures.^[5]^[6]

Constituencies

Members represent one electoral district each. There are 40 seats in the House of Assembly.^[7]

Seating plan

	Warr	Loveless	Howell	Pike	Reid	Gambin-Walsh	Stoyles
	P.Parsons	Stoodley	A.Parsons	Hogan	Davis	Vacant	Abbott	Hutton
	Vacant	Coady	FUREY	Crocker	Dempster	Haggie	Byrne	Trimper

Bennett

	Pardy	WAKEHAM	Petten	Dinn		DINN	Brown
	Tibbs	O'Driscoll	Conway-Ottenheimer	Parrott			Evans
	Wall	Forsey	Dwyer			Joyce	Lane

Current as of January 2024 ^[8]

Current members (MHAs)

Party leaders' names are written in bold and cabinet ministers in italic, with the Speaker of the House of Assembly designated by a dagger (†).

Name	Party	Riding
John Abbott	Liberal	St. John's East-Quidi Vidi
Derek Bennett†	Liberal	Lewisporte-Twillingate
Jim McKenna	Progressive Conservative	Fogo Island-Cape Freels
Fred Hutton	Liberal	Conception Bay East-Bell Island
Jordan Brown	New Democratic	Labrador West
Gerry Byrne	Liberal	Corner Brook
Siobhán Coady	Liberal	St. John's West
Helen Conway-Ottenheimer	Progressive Conservative	Harbour Main
Steve Crocker	Liberal	Carbonear-Trinity-Bay de Verde
Bernard Davis	Liberal	Virginia Waters-Pleasantville
Lisa Dempster	Liberal	Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair
Jim Dinn	New Democratic	St. John's Centre
Paul Dinn	Progressive Conservative	Topsail-Paradise
Jeff Dwyer	Progressive Conservative	Placentia West-Bellevue
Lela Evans	Progressive Conservative	Torngat Mountains
Pleaman Forsey	Progressive Conservative	Exploits
Andrew Furey	Liberal	Humber-Gros Morne
Sherry Gambin-Walsh	Liberal	Placentia-St. Mary's
John Haggie	Liberal	Gander
John Hogan	Liberal	Windsor Lake
Krista Lynn Howell	Liberal	St. Barbe-L'Anse aux Meadows
Eddie Joyce	Independent	Humber-Bay of Islands
Paul Lane	Independent	Mount Pearl-Southlands
Elvis Loveless	Liberal	Fortune Bay-Cape La Hune
Loyola O'Driscoll	Progressive Conservative	Ferryland
Jamie Korab	Liberal	Waterford Valley
Craig Pardy	Progressive Conservative	Bonavista
Lloyd Parrott	Progressive Conservative	Terra Nova
Andrew Parsons	Liberal	Burgeo-La Poile
Pam Parsons	Liberal	Harbour Grace-Port de Grave
Barry Petten	Progressive Conservative	Conception Bay South
Paul Pike	Liberal	Burin-Grand Bank
Scott Reid	Liberal	St. George's-Humber
Sarah Stoodley	Liberal	Mount Scio
Lucy Stoyles	Liberal	Mount Pearl North
Chris Tibbs	Progressive Conservative	Grand Falls-Windsor-Buchans
Perry Trimper	Liberal	Lake Melville
Tony Wakeham	Progressive Conservative	Stephenville-Port au Port
Joedy Wall	Progressive Conservative	Cape St. Francis
Lin Paddock	Progressive Conservative	Baie Verte-Green Bay

Seat total and official layout

Summary of the current standings of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador
Party		Leader	Seats
Party		Leader	March 25, 2021	Current
	Liberal	Andrew Furey	22	22
	Progressive Conservative	Tony Wakeham	13	14
	New Democratic	Jim Dinn	2	2
	Independent	N/A	3	2
	Vacant	N/A	0	0
Members			40	40

References

^ Maher, David. "You could say the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is in its 'infant' stage | The Chronicle Herald". www.thechronicleherald.ca. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
^ Newfoundland Act, 12-13 Geo. VI [1949], c. 22 (U.K.), Sch. 1 (Terms of Union) s. 14
^ O'Neill, Paul (2003). The Oldest City: The Story of St. John's, Newfoundland. St. Philip's, NL: Boulder Publications. p. 336. ISBN 9781459301238.
^ "History – Benevolent Irish Society". Archived from the original on August 11, 2020.
^ "October 2013".
^ "Newfoundland's historic Colonial Building to undergo restoration – Daily Commercial News". Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
^ "Full list of winners in Newfoundland and Labrador election". CBC News, November 30, 2015.
^ "Seating Plan". Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. March 30, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2022.

External links

[1] Maher, David. "You could say the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is in its 'infant' stage | The Chronicle Herald". www.thechronicleherald.ca. Retrieved December 17, 2020.

[2] Newfoundland Act, 12-13 Geo. VI [1949], c. 22 (U.K.), Sch. 1 (Terms of Union) s. 14

[3] O'Neill, Paul (2003). The Oldest City: The Story of St. John's, Newfoundland. St. Philip's, NL: Boulder Publications. p. 336. ISBN 9781459301238.

[4] "History – Benevolent Irish Society". Archived from the original on August 11, 2020.

[5] "October 2013".

[dcnonl.com-6] "Newfoundland's historic Colonial Building to undergo restoration – Daily Commercial News". Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2013.

[wins2-7] "Full list of winners in Newfoundland and Labrador election". CBC News, November 30, 2015.

[8] "Seating Plan". Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. March 30, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2022.

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