1971 Newfoundland general election

1971 Newfoundland general election

←  1966 October 28, 1971 1972  →
42 seats to the 35th General Assembly of Newfoundland 22 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	87.9% ( 26.1 pp) [1] [2]
First party Second party Third party   PC NLP Leader Frank Moores Joey Smallwood Tom Burgess Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Labrador Leader since 1970 1949 1969 Leader's seat Humber West [a] Placentia East [a] Labrador West Last election 3 seats, 33.69% 39 seats, 61.33% New party Seats won 21 20 1 Seat change 18 19 1 Popular vote 120,655 104,523 5,595 Percentage 51.34% 44.48% 2.38% Swing 17.65pp 16.85pp n/a
Premier before election Joey Smallwood Liberal Premier after election Joey Smallwood Liberal

The 1971 Newfoundland general election was held on 28 October 1971 to elect members of the 35th General Assembly of Newfoundland. It resulted in a hung parliament as, with the support of the Labrador Party's lone MHA, the Smallwood government had the support of 21 MHAs compared to 21 for the Progressive Conservative party. Smallwood ultimately resigned in January 1972 allowing Moores' Tories to form a government but the instability in the House led to the March 24, 1972 provincial election. ^[3]

Results

Summary of the 1971 Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly election results

Political party		Party leader	Candidates	MHAs			Popular vote
				1966	1971	±	#	%	± (pp)
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Moores	42	3	21	18	120,655	51.34%	17.65
	Liberal	Joey Smallwood	42	39	20	19	104,523	44.48%	16.85
	Labrador	Tom Burgess	3	n/a	1	1	5,595	2.38%	n/a
	New Democratic	John Connors	17	0	0		3,718	1.58%	0.24
	Independent Liberal		3	0	0		407	0.17%	n/a
	Independent		1	0	0		109	0.05%	2.33
Total			108	42	42		235,007	100%

Results by district

• Names in boldface type represent party leaders.
• † indicates that the incumbent did not run again.
• ‡ indicates that the incumbent ran in a different district.

St. John's

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		NDP		Other
St. John's Centre 85.76% turnout		Leonard Levitz 1,592 28.95%		Anthony Murphy 3,708 67.43%		Graham Kelly 90 1.64%		David Owens (Independent) 109 1.98%		Anthony Murphy
St. John's East 85.91% turnout		Brendan Kelly 1,270 30.19%		William Marshall 2,936 69.81%						William Marshall
St. John's East Extern 85.58% turnout		Howard Young 3,487 29.02%		Tom Hickey 7,954 66.19%		Walter Noel 576 4.79%				Tom Hickey
St. John's North 90.52% turnout		Gordon Lidstone 5,313 34.77%		John Carter 9,966 65.23%						Nathaniel Noel†
St. John's South 83.74% turnout		Francis Galgay 3,082 34.42%		Hugh Shea 5,712 63.79%		Roy Taylor 160 1.79%				John Nolan‡ (ran in Ferryland)
St. John's West 85.05% turnout		Alma Badcock 2,844 30.85%		John Crosbie 6,374 69.15%						John Crosbie

Conception Bay

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		Other
Bay de Verde 77.66% turnout		William Saunders 1,307 50.40%		Brendan Howard 1,286 49.60%				William Saunders
Bell Island 87.28% turnout		Steve Neary 1,567 65.65%		Bern Fitzpatrick 820 34.35%				Steve Neary
Carbonear 88.91% turnout		George Clarke 1,765 49.06%		Augustus Rowe 1,833 50.94%				George Clarke
Harbour Grace 84.93% turnout		Hubert Kitchen 2,409 52.91%		Harold Gosse 1,875 41.18%		Hubert Badcock (Independent Liberal) 269 5.91%		Alec Moores†
Harbour Main 83.28% turnout		John Mahoney 3,605 22.95%		Gordon Dawe 4,417 28.12%		Darrell Cole (NDP) 151 0.96%		Philip Lewis†
		Ralph Fagan 3,452 21.97%		William Doody 4,084 26.00%				John Mahoney
Port de Grave 83.29% turnout		James Hussey 2,402 55.90%		Herbert Bowering 1,793 41.73%		Edgar Russell (NDP) 102 2.37%		Eric Dawe†

Avalon Peninsula

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Liberal		PC
Ferryland 86.14% turnout		John Nolan 1,874 48.62%		Thomas Doyle 1,980 51.38%		Aidan Maloney†
Placentia East 84.91% turnout		Joey Smallwood 2,852 58.61%		William Patterson 2,014 41.39%		Alain Frecker†
St. Mary's 88.03% turnout		Michael Maher 1,138 48.34%		Gerry Ottenheimer 1,216 51.66%		James M. McGrath†
Trinity South 78.38% turnout		Uriah Strickland 3,424 61.62%		George Baker 2,267 40.80%		Uriah Strickland

Eastern Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		NDP
Bonavista North 81.84% turnout		Paul Thoms 3,324 53.89%		Robert Wells 2,844 46.11%				Beaton Abbott†
Bonavista South 74.58% turnout		Rossy Barbour 3,050 53.63%		Jim Morgan 2,500 43.96%		Gerald Hayley 137 2.41%		Rossy Barbour
Fogo 77.04% turnout		Earl Winsor 2,703 58.10%		Frederick Jesperson 1,949 41.90%				Eric Jones†
Trinity North 77.70% turnout		Uriah Strickland 3,424 56.87%		Eric Martin 2,597 43.13%				Maxwell Lane†

Central Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		NDP		Other
Gander 89.64% turnout		Douglas Sheppard 2,861 35.26%		Harold Collins 5,030 62.00%		Clarence Lingard 222 2.74%				Harold Collins
Grand Falls 85.27% turnout		Frederick W. Rowe 3,601 42.91%		Aubrey Senior 3,987 47.51%		John Connors 804 9.58%				Frederick W. Rowe
Green Bay 81.22% turnout		Harold Starkes 2,687 56.38%		Aubrey Rolfe 1,835 38.50%		Harold Card 244 5.12%				William Smallwood†
Lewisporte 83.24% turnout		John Whalen 2,364 45.92%		James Russell 2,614 50.78%		Walwin Blackmore 170 3.30%				Harold Starkes‡ (ran in Green Bay)
Twillingate 81.76% turnout		William Adams 2,155 58.69%		John Loveridge 1,487 40.50%		Roderick Woolridge 30 0.82%				Leslie Curtis†
White Bay South 88.85% turnout		Bill Rowe 2,477 61.42%		William Eaton 1,433 35.53%		Martin Saunders 73 1.81%		Ronald Budgell (Independent Liberal) 50 1.24%		Bill Rowe

Southern Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		Other
Burgeo-La Poile 79.85% turnout		Walter Hodder 2,674 47.66%		Allan Evans 2,762 49.22%		Andrew Wells (NDP) 175 3.12%		Walter Hodder
Burin 93.11% turnout		Alex Hickman 3,655 54.51%		Don Hollett 3,050 45.49%				Alex Hickman
Fortune Bay 78.93% turnout		H.R.V. Earle 1,206 45.29%		Augustus Oldford 1,457 54.71%				H.R.V. Earle
Hermitage 82.89% turnout		Harold Piercey 1,850 52.20%		Roy Cheeseman 1,585 44.72%		Leo Coffey (NDP) 109 3.08%		Abel Wornell†
Placentia West 85.30% turnout		Patrick Canning 2,387 64.25%		Lawrence Hudson 1,240 33.38%		Thomas Fitzpatrick (Independent Liberal) 88 2.37%		Patrick Canning

Western Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		NDP
Humber East 89.66% turnout		George Warren 2,998 33.34%		Tom Farrell 5,654 62.87%		Calvin Hillyard 341 3.79%		Clyde Wells†
Humber West 90.95% turnout		Noel Murphy 3,270 36.36%		Frank Moores 5,959 66.26%		James Walsh 234 2.60%		Joey Smallwood ‡ (ran in Placentia East)
Port au Port 93.50% turnout		William Callahan 2,730 40.22%		Frederick Stagg 4,057 59.78%				William Callahan
St. Barbe North 83.34% turnout		James Chalker 1,354 66.57%		Boyd Hiscock 680 33.43%				James Chalker
St. Barbe South 87.95% turnout [b]		Trevor Bennett 1,748 49.89%		Edward Maynard 1,756 50.11%				Gerald Myrden†
St. George's 89.83% turnout		Jeremiah Horan 1,777 43.27%		Alexander Dunphy 2,327 56.66%				Vacant [c]
White Bay North 85.57% turnout		Edward Roberts 3,140 81.36%		Gerald Moore 719 18.63%				Edward Roberts

Labrador

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		Labrador		NDP
Labrador North		Melvin Woodward 1,858 44.64%		Arthur Hale 709 17.04%		Herbert Brett 1,545 37.12%				Earl Winsor‡ (ran in Fogo)
Labrador South 84.32% turnout		Joe Harvey 890 47.52%		Edward Kean 176 9.40%		Michael Martin 807 43.09%				Gerald Hill†
Labrador West		Roy Legge 1,445 22.41%		Peter Walsh 1,659 25.73%		Tom Burgess 3,243 50.30%		Michael Neville 100 1.55%		Tom Burgess

Notes

1. Not the incumbent, but stood in this seat and won
2. A judicial recount was initiated in this riding. However, it was discovered during the process that the deputy returning officer had accidentally burned the 106 ballots for the community of Sally's Cove, which made it impossible to complete the recount. Consequently, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland decreed that Maynard had been elected. The initial results of the election are shown here in italics. ^[4]
3. William Keough had been elected in 1966, but he died while in office on March 3, 1971.

References

1. "Report on Provincial General Election, 1971". The Newfoundland Gazette. February 1, 1972. Retrieved April 6, 2025.
2. "General Election Returns, March 24, 1972" (PDF). Elections NL . Retrieved April 4, 2025.
3. Former Newfoundland premier Frank Moores dies. CBC News, June 11, 2005
4. Manning, Gary (November 25, 1971). "Burning ballots 'not customary'". The Western Star . Retrieved April 6, 2025.

Further reading

• Riggs, Bert (1981). "General Election #35: October 28, 1971". Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, volume 1. St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications Ltd. Retrieved April 6, 2025.