2019 Newfoundland and Labrador general election

The 2019 Newfoundland and Labrador general election was held on May 16, 2019, to elect members of the 49th General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Despite consistent Progressive Conservative leads in polling towards the end of the campaign, including a nine-point lead in the final poll released a day before the election, the Liberal Party led by Dwight Ball won re-election, but nonetheless fell one seat short of retaining their majority after an unexpected loss to the New Democrats in Labrador West originally in the initial count by five votes. This resulted in the Liberals winning 20 seats, exactly half of the House of Assembly. A subsequent recount shortened the margin of victory in Labrador West to just two votes.

The following MHAs had announced that they would not be running in this provincial election:

Independent

• Dale Kirby (Mount Scio)

New Democratic Party

• Gerry Rogers (St. John's Centre)
• Lorraine Michael (St. John's East-Quidi Vidi)

Progressive Conservative Party

• Keith Hutchings (Ferryland)
• Tracey Perry (Fortune Bay-Cape La Hune)

2015

• November 30, 2015 – The Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador wins 31 of the 40 seats in the House of Assembly during the general election ending 12 years of Progressive Conservative rule and defeating incumbent premier Paul Davis.

2016

• May 19, 2016 - Liberal MHA Paul Lane is suspended from the Liberal caucus and sits as an independent MHA.
• October 11, 2016 - Former premier Paul Davis announces he'll resign as Tory leader once his successor is chosen.

2017

• July 31, 2017 - A cabinet shuffle takes place after Cathy Bennett resigns as Finance Minister. Dempster and Osborne enter cabinet.
• September 19, 2017 - NDP Leader Earle McCurdy announced his resignation as Party Leader, effective September 30.
• September 28, 2017 - NDP MHA Lorraine Michael is named interim leader of the NDP replacing Earle McCurdy who announced his resignation earlier in the month.
• October 11, 2017 - Mount Pearl North PC MHA Steve Kent resigns to become Chief Administrative Officer of Mount Pearl triggering a by-election.
• November 21, 2017 - Jim Lester (PC) is elected as MHA for Mount Pearl North.

2018

• April 8, 2018 - Gerry Rogers is elected as the leader of the New Democrats, succeeding Lorraine Michael.
• April 25, 2018 - Municipal Affairs Minister Eddie Joyce is formally accused of inappropriate conduct by another Liberal MHA. He is subsequently removed from cabinet and caucus pending the outcome of an external investigation.
• April 28, 2018 - Ches Crosbie is elected as the new leader of the Progressive Conservatives, succeeding Paul Davis.
• April 30, 2018 - Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Dale Kirby is removed from cabinet and caucus following allegations of harassment.
• May 13, 2018 - Paul Davis announces his resignation as Leader of the Opposition. Since PC leader Ches Crosbie does not have a seat in the House of Assembly MHA David Brazil was appointed Leader of the Opposition on May 14, 2018.
• June 16, 2018 - Delegates at the Liberal Party Annual General Meeting vote to endorse the leadership of Dwight Ball with 79% voting against the party holding a leadership convention.
• August 21, 2018 - Liberal MHA Cathy Bennett resigns her seat of Windsor Lake.
• August 27, 2018 - CBC releases a copy of a report by the Commissioner for Legislative Standards that clears Eddie Joyce and Dale Kirby of wrongdoing in all the allegations made by fellow Liberal MHA Colin Holloway.
• September 20, 2018 - Ches Crosbie (PC) is elected as MHA for Windsor Lake.
• October 18, 2018 - Paul Davis (PC) announces his intention to resign as MHA for Topsail-Paradise on November 2.
• October 20, 2018 - MHA Dale Kirby leaks the results of the Commissioner for Legislative Standards report regarding MHA Pam Parsons’ complaint against him to the public. Kirby was cleared on all complaints, except making an inappropriate comment to Parsons at the 2016 Liberal Party AGM; the report recommended a sanction by the House of Assembly on that count.
• October 21, 2018 - The Joyce report is leaked to the public which found that Joyce had broken the code of conduct for elected officials when he lobbied Minister Gambin-Walsh to hire a friend of his for a government job; Joyce was cleared on all other allegations.
• October 30, 2018 - PC party president Graydon Pelley resigns and creates a new political party, the NL Alliance.
• November 8, 2018 - Cabinet shuffle takes place MHAs Davis, Haley, and Letto promoted to cabinet.
• November 16, 2018 - MHA Eddie Joyce confirms he has been denied re-entry into the Liberal caucus.

2019

• January 24, 2019 - Paul Dinn (PC) is elected as MHA for Topsail-Paradise.
• February 12, 2019 - NDP Leader Gerry Rogers announced she would be stepping down as leader and not seeking re-election in 2019.
• March 5, 2019 - Alison Coffin is acclaimed leader of the NDP.
• April 12, 2019 - The NL Alliance is officially registered as a political party in Newfoundland and Labrador.
• April 16, 2019 - Budget is tabled in the House of Assembly.
• April 17, 2019 - Premier Ball visits Lt. Gov. Judy Foote and the writ is dropped.
• June 21, 2019 - A judicial recount confirms Jordan Brown as MHA for Labrador West by a two-vote margin.

• All candidate names are those on the official list of confirmed candidates; names in media or on party website may differ slightly.
• Names in boldface type represent party leaders.
• † represents that the incumbent is not running again.
• § represents that the incumbent was defeated for nomination.
• ₰ represents that the incumbent ran in another district and lost the nomination
• ‡ represents that the incumbent is running in a different district.

The Liberals lost their parliamentary majority.

• Marland, Alex; Loder, Hannah (July 2021). "More Than the Usual Turmoil: The 2019 Provincial Election in Newfoundland and Labrador". Canadian Political Science Review. 15 (1): 16–33. doi:10.24124/c677/20211787. ISSN 1911-4125.