St. John's East (federal electoral district)

For other uses, see St. John's East (provincial electoral district) and St. John's North (provincial electoral district).

St. John's East

Newfoundland and Labrador electoral district
St. John's East in relation to other Newfoundland and Labrador ridings (2013 boundaries)
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Joanne Thompson Liberal
District created	1949
First contested	1949
Last contested	2021
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2016) [1]	85,697
Electors (2019)	66,063
Area (km²) [1]	363
Pop. density (per km²)	236.1
Census division(s)	Division 1
Census subdivision(s)	St. John's, Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, Paradise, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, Subdivision 1R, Torbay, Wabana

St. John's East (French : St. John's-Est; formerly known as St. John's North) is a federal electoral district in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1949.

It covers a part of St. John's. For a brief period in 2003 and 2004, it was known as "St. John's North". ^[2]

In the 2019 federal election, former NDP MP Jack Harris defeated incumbent MP Nick Whalen in a rematch of the 2015 election. Harris retired in 2021, and Liberal Joanne Thompson won the seat. ^[3]

Demographics

Ethnic groups: 97.2% White
Languages: 97.7% English, 1.9% Other
Religions: 47.1% Catholic, 46.0% Protestant, 4.9% No affiliation
Average income: $28 969

Geography

The district includes the extreme northeastern part of the Avalon Peninsula including the northern half of the City of St. John's, and the eastern half of the Town of Conception Bay South. It also includes Bell Island, Little Bell Island and Kelly's Island.

The neighbouring ridings are Avalon and St. John's South—Mount Pearl.

According to Elections Canada, the geographic boundaries for this riding as of the 39th General Election are:

"All that area consisting of:

(a) the towns of Bauline, Flatrock, Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, Pouch Cove, Torbay and Wabana;

(b) that part of the Town of Paradise lying northeasterly and northerly of a line described as follows: commencing at the intersection of the easterly limit of the Town of Paradise with Topsail Road; thence generally westerly along said road to Paradise Road; thence generally northwesterly along said road to Camrose Drive; thence northerly along said drive to the northerly limit of said town; and

(c) that part of the City of St. John's lying northwesterly of a line described as follows: commencing at the intersection of the westerly limit of the City of St. John's with Kenmount Road coincident with the northerly limit of the City of Mount Pearl; thence northeasterly and easterly along said road and Freshwater Road to Lemarchant Road; thence southerly along said road to Barter's Hill; thence generally southeasterly along Barter's Hill to Waldegrave Street; thence easterly and northeasterly along said street to Water Street; thence northerly and northeasterly along said street to Temperance Street; thence northwesterly along said street to Duckworth Street; thence northeasterly along said street to Signal Hill Road; thence northeasterly along said road to Cabot Avenue; thence northeasterly in a straight line to a point on Signal Hill at approximate latitude 47°34'31"N and longitude 52°41'21"W (on the northern boundary of the Johnson Geo Centre lot); thence due east in a straight line to the Atlantic Ocean."

See the map of the St. John's East riding.

History

The riding was created when Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949 and has historically been a conservative stronghold. ^[4] St. John's East was won by Liberal Bonnie Hickey in 1993 election, who was defeated by Progressive Conservative Norman Doyle in the 1997 election. Doyle held the riding for the PCs and then the Conservatives, but stood down in 2008 and was replaced in a landslide by New Democrat, Jack Harris. ^{[5] [6]} Harris held the riding until his defeat in the 2015 election by Nick Whalen. That result was considered one of the biggest surprises of the 2015 election. ^[7]

As of the 2012 electoral redistribution, 21% of this riding will be moved into Avalon, and it will gain 5% from St. John's South—Mount Pearl.

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
St. John's East
21st	1949–1953		Gordon Higgins	Progressive Conservative
22nd	1953–1957		Allan Fraser	Liberal
23rd	1957–1958		James McGrath	Progressive Conservative
24th	1958–1962
25th	1962–1963
26th	1963–1965		Joseph O'Keefe	Liberal
27th	1965–1968
28th	1968–1972		James McGrath	Progressive Conservative
29th	1972–1974
30th	1974–1979
31st	1979–1980
32nd	1980–1984
33rd	1984–1986
	1987–1988		Jack Harris	New Democratic
34th	1988–1993		Ross Reid	Progressive Conservative
35th	1993–1997		Bonnie Hickey	Liberal
36th	1997–2000		Norman Doyle	Progressive Conservative
37th	2000–2003
	2003–2004			Conservative
St. John's North
38th	2004–2006		Norman Doyle	Conservative
St. John's East
39th	2006–2008		Norman Doyle	Conservative
40th	2008–2011		Jack Harris	New Democratic
41st	2011–2015
42nd	2015–2019		Nick Whalen	Liberal
43rd	2019–2021		Jack Harris	New Democratic
44th	2021–present		Joanne Thompson	Liberal

Election results

Graph of election results in St. John's East and St.John's North (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

St. John's East (2004-present)

Graph of election results in St. John's East (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

2021 election by polling area

2021

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Joanne Thompson	17,239	45.16	+11.90	$71,466.38
	New Democratic	Mary Shortall	13,090	34.29	–12.63	$65,576.70
	Conservative	Glenn Etchegary	7,119	18.65	+0.59	$44,852.25
	People's	Dana Metcalfe	723	1.89	–	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			38,171	99.23	-0.61	$105,251.87
Total rejected ballots			296	0.77	–0.39
Turnout			38,467	57.61	–10.04
Registered voters			66,768
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+12.30
Source: Elections Canada [8] [9]

2021 federal election redistributed results [10]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	16,741	45.14
	New Democratic	12,920	34.84
	Conservative	6,709	18.09
	People's	718	1.94

2019

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	21,148	46.92	+1.63	none listed
	Liberal	Nick Whalen	14,962	33.20	−13.54	none listed
	Conservative	Joedy Wall	8,141	18.06	+11.52	$56,419.96
	Green	David Peters	821	1.82	+0.71	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			45,072	99.84		$101,886.12
Total rejected ballots			528	1.16	+0.91
Turnout			45,600	67.65	-0.21
Eligible voters			67,406
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		+7.58
Source: Elections Canada [11]

2015

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Nick Whalen	20,974	46.73	+38.96	–
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	20,328	45.29	-25.36	–
	Conservative	Deanne Stapleton	2,938	6.55	-13.90	–
	Green	David Anthony Peters	500	1.11	-0.02	–
	Communist	Sean Burton	140	0.31	–	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			44,880	99.75		$198,664.41
Total rejected ballots			111	0.25
Turnout			44,991	67.86
Eligible voters			66,304
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+32.16
Source: Elections Canada [12] [13]

2011 federal election redistributed results [14]
Party		Vote	%
	New Democratic	26,042	70.65
	Conservative	7,538	20.45
	Liberal	2,863	7.77
	Green	415	1.13

2011

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	31,388	71.22	-3.33	$68,045.84
	Conservative	Jerry Byrne	9,198	20.87	+11.61	$85,207.91
	Liberal	John Allan	3,019	6.85	-5.73	$53,539.40
	Green	Robert Miller	467	1.06	-0.32	$335.14
Total valid votes/Expense limit			44,072	100.0	–	$85,537.94
Total rejected, declined and unmarked ballots			136	0.31	+0.32
Turnout			44,208	57.85	+0.96
Eligible voters			76,424
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-7.47
Sources: [15] [16]

2008

2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	30,881	74.55	+57.03	$78,829
	Liberal	Walter Noel	5,211	12.58	-22.37	$51,030
	Conservative	Craig Westcott	3,836	9.26	-37.30	$79,772
	Progressive Canadian	Shannon Tobin	578	1.40	–	none listed
	Green	Howard Story	570	1.38	+0.40	none listed
	Newfoundland and Labrador First	Les Coultas	347	0.84	–	none listed
Total valid votes/Expense limit			41,423	100.0	$81,734
Total rejected, declined and unmarked ballots			137	0.33	-0.06
Turnout			41,560	56.89	-4.6
Eligible voters			73,053
	New Democratic gain from Conservative		Swing		+39.70

2006

2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Norman Doyle	19,110	46.56	+5.16	$72,442
	Liberal	Paul Antle	14,345	34.95	-1.70	$71,682
	New Democratic	Mike Kehoe	7,190	17.52	-2.25	$14,072
	Green	Stephen Eli Harris	402	0.98	-1.19	none listed
Total valid votes/Expense limit			41,047	100.0	–	$74,567
Total rejected, declined and unmarked ballots			111	0.27	-0.04
Turnout			41,158	60.50	+4.88
Eligible voters			68,026
	Conservative hold		Swing		+3.43

St. John's North (2003-2004)

Graph of election results in St. John's North (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

2004

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Norman Doyle	15,073	41.40	-12.50	$67,414
	Liberal	Walter Noel	13,343	36.65	+4.07	$70,872
	New Democratic	Janine Piller	7,198	19.77	+7.09	$17,703
	Green	Scott Vokey	791	2.17	–	$564
Total valid votes/Expense limit			36,405	100.0	–	$72,255
Total rejected, declined and unmarked ballots			114	0.31
Turnout			36,519	55.62	-1.47
Eligible voters			65,660
	Conservative notional gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		-8.28
Changes from 2000 are based on redistributed results. Change for the Conservatives is based on the combined totals of the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance.

2000 federal election redistributed results
Party		Vote	%
	Progressive Conservative	17,752	51.26
	Liberal	11,282	32.58
	New Democratic	4,391	12.68
	Alliance	913	2.64
	Others	290	0.84

St. John's East (1949-2003)

Graph of election results in St. John's East (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

2000

2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Norman Doyle	23,606	53.22	+14.24
	Liberal	Peter Miller	13,835	31.19	+4.02
	New Democratic	Carol Cantwell	5,395	12.16	-15.93
	Alliance	Garry Hartle	1,144	2.58	-1.88
	Independent	Judy Day	254	0.57
	Natural Law	Michael Rayment	122	0.28	-0.15
Total valid votes			44,356	100.00
Changes for the Canadian Alliance from 1997 are based on the results of its predecessor, the Reform Party.

1997

1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Norman Doyle	17,286	38.98	-2.83
	New Democratic	Ted Warren	12,460	28.09	+21.62
	Liberal	Bonnie Hickey	12,048	27.17	-17.27
	Reform	David Tulett	1,977	4.46	+1.56
	Green	Jonathan C. Whalen	388	0.87
	Natural Law	Michael Rayment	191	0.43	-0.42
Total valid votes			44,350	100.00

1993

1993 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bonnie Hickey	19,511	44.44	+25.38
	Progressive Conservative	Ross Reid	18,355	41.81	-2.32
	New Democratic	Bob Buckingham	2,839	6.47	-28.83
	Reform	J. Leonard Barron	1,271	2.90
	National	Bill Vetter	1,211	2.76
	Natural Law	Michael Rayment	374	0.85
	Christian Heritage	Bob Tremblett	339	0.77	-0.75
Total valid votes			43,900	100.00

1988

1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Ross Reid	21,503	44.13	+9.16
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	17,198	35.30	-10.98
	Liberal	Jim Baird	9,285	19.06	+1.84
	Christian Heritage	Robert Tremblett	739	1.52
Total valid votes			48,725	100.00

1987 by-election

Canadian federal by-election, 20 July 1987 Resignation of James McGrath, 4 September 1986
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	15,842	46.28	+39.72
	Progressive Conservative	Thomas V. Hickey	11,971	34.97	-43.33
	Liberal	Steve Neary	5,894	17.22	+2.9
	Rhinoceros	Peter Francis Quinlan	527	1.54
Total valid votes			34,234	100.00

1984

1984 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	30,866	78.30	+17.04
	Liberal	Elizabeth Reynolds	5,644	14.32	-11.15
	New Democratic	Christine Oliver	2,584	6.56	-5.60
	Libertarian	Paul Paquet	325	0.82
Total valid votes			39,419	100.00

1980

1980 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	20,007	61.26	+2.83
	Liberal	Ernest J. Bishop	8,320	25.47	+3.17
	New Democratic	George P. Corbett	3,973	12.16	-7.11
	Independent	Ann Margaret Barney	270	0.83
	Marxist–Leninist	Carol Hodge	91	0.28
Total valid votes			32,661	100.00

1979

1979 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	20,262	58.43	+2.25
	Liberal	John Dustan	7,734	22.30	-11.48
	New Democratic	Stratford G. Canning	6,684	19.27	+10.04
Total valid votes			34,680	100.00

1974

1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	16,941	56.18	-4.29
	Liberal	Norman Whalen	10,187	33.78	+0.06
	New Democratic	George Corbett	2,783	9.23	+3.90
	Independent	J. Wayne Saint John	242	0.80
Total valid votes			30,153	100.00

1972

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	17,728	60.47	-0.46
	Liberal	Margaret Dunn	9,887	33.72	-1.72
	New Democratic	R. Graham Kelly	1,563	5.33	+2.12
	Social Credit	Norman W. King	139	0.47	+0.05
Total valid votes			29,317	100.00

1968

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	18,153	60.93	+19.79
	Liberal	Joseph O'Keefe	10,558	35.44	-20.53
	New Democratic	Mary Summers	956	3.21	+1.13
	Social Credit	Norman W. King	126	0.42	-0.39
Total valid votes			29,793	100.00

1965

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph O'Keefe	16,182	55.97	+4.48
	Progressive Conservative	William Joseph Browne	11,894	41.14	-7.37
	New Democratic	Cyril W. Strong	602	2.08	Ø
	Social Credit	Norman William King	233	0.81	Ø
Total valid votes			28,911	100.00

1963

1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph O'Keefe	14,768	51.49	+5.92
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	13,911	48.51	-3.82
Total valid votes			28,679	100.00

1962

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	14,821	52.33	-13.09
	Liberal	Brian White	12,907	45.57	+11.95
	New Democratic	James J. Walsh	435	1.54	Ø
	Social Credit	Eric Dixon Cave Hiscock	158	0.56	Ø
Total valid votes			28,321	100.00

1958

1958 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	17,894	65.42	+12.22
	Liberal	Gregory O'Grady	9,197	33.62	-13.18
	Independent Liberal	David Ignatius Jackman	263	0.96	Ø
Total valid votes			27,354	100.00

1957

1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James McGrath	10,312	53.20	+18.82
	Liberal	Allan Fraser	9,073	46.80	+4.1
Total valid votes			19,385	100.00

1953

1953 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Allan Fraser	8,310	42.70	-1.21
	Progressive Conservative	Gordon Higgins	6,691	34.38	-20.62
	Independent	Peter John Cashin	4,459	22.91	Ø
Total valid votes			19,460	100.00

1949

1949 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Gordon Higgins	9,912	55.00
	Liberal	Ambrose John Dalton Shea	7,913	43.91
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William W. Gillies	197	1.09
Total valid votes			18,022	100.00

Student vote results

2019

2019 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	2,135	40.34	-1.87
	Liberal	Nick Whalen	1,542	29.14	-13.46
	Conservative	Joedy Wall	964	18.22	+11.45
	Green	David Peters	651	12.30	+7.57
Total Valid Votes			5,292	100.0	–
Source: Student Vote Canada [17]

2015

2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Nick Whalen	648	42.60	+25.72
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	642	42.21	-11.51
	Conservative	Deanne Stapleton	103	6.77	-11.75
	Green	David Anthony Peters	72	4.73	6.15
	Communist	Sean Burton	56	3.68	–
Total Valid Votes			1,521	100.0	–
Source: Student Vote Canada [18]

2011

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Jack Harris	815	53.72
	Conservative	Jerry Bynre	281	18.52
	Liberal	John Allan	256	16.88
	Green	Robert Miller	165	10.88
Total Valid Votes			1,517	100.0
Source: Student Vote Canada [19]

See also

• List of Canadian federal electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada

References

• "St. John's East (federal electoral district) (Code 10006) Census Profile". 2011 census . Government of Canada - Statistics Canada . Retrieved March 3, 2011.
• St. John's East riding from Elections Canada
• Riding history for St. John's East (1949–1952) from the Library of Parliament
• Riding history for St. John's East (1952–1987) from the Library of Parliament
• Riding history for St. John's East (1987–2003) from the Library of Parliament
• Riding history for St. John's North (2003–2004) from the Library of Parliament
• Riding history for St. John's East (2004– ) from the Library of Parliament
• Election Financial Reports from Elections Canada

Notes

1. Statistics Canada: 2012
2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 6, 2004. Retrieved June 11, 2004.
3. "Liberals flip St. John's East, as Conservatives look to claim Coast of Bays-Central-Notre Dame". CBC News . September 21, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
4. "Veteran St. John's MP Doyle retiring from politics". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. March 13, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
5. "Former MP Harris sets sights on St. John's East". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . September 8, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
6. "NDP's Harris landslide in St. John's East". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . May 2, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
7. "Just who is Nick Whalen?". The Telegram. St. John's. October 20, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
8. "Election Night Results — Elections Canada". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
9. "Candidate Campaign Returns". Elections Canada . Retrieved July 19, 2022.
10. "Transposition of Votes from the 44th General Election to the 2023 Representation Orders". Elections Canada . Retrieved April 9, 2024.
11. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
12. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. February 29, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
13. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2015-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
14. Pundits' Guide to Canadian Elections
15. Elections Canada – Official voting results, Forty-first general election, 2011
16. Elections Canada – Candidate's electoral campaign return, 41st general election
17. "Student Vote Canada 2019" . Retrieved September 25, 2020.
18. "Student Vote" . Retrieved September 25, 2020.
19. "District Results". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on May 6, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2020.