Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly

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]

Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
50th General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Lower house (1832–1934) then unicameral house
of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador
History
Founded1832 (1832)
Leadership
Speaker
Derek Bennett, Liberal
since April 12, 2021
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
Seats40
Political groups
Government
  •   Liberal (21)

Official Opposition

Others

Elections
Last election
March 25, 2021
Next election
2025
Meeting place
Colonial Building (1850–1959)
Confederation Building (1959–present)
Website
www.assembly.nl.ca

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
Osborne 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)
Colonial Building, the House of Assembly of the Dominion of Newfoundland
Newfoundland House of Assembly in Colonial Building, ca. 1914

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 New Democratic 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
  Tom Osborne 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
  Vacant 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
March 25, 2021 Current
Liberal Andrew Furey 2223
Progressive Conservative Tony Wakeham 1311
New Democratic Jim Dinn 23
Independent N/A 3 2
Vacant N/A 0 1
Members 4040

See also

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