Lorraine Michael

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On March 28, 2006, Michael announced she was seeking the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, following the resignation of leader Jack Harris. [7] At the leadership convention on May 28, 2006, Michael defeated writer Nina Patey with a 107–5 vote count. [8]

On November 1, 2006 she was elected in a by-election in the district of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Jerome Kennedy. Her campaign also received support from federal NDP leader, Jack Layton who visited the district to campaign for Michael. [9] [10]

In March 2007, New Democrat Randy Collins resigned as MHA for Labrador West after being named in the province's constituency allowance scandal. Michael was unsuccessful in holding the district for the NDP, losing to Progressive Conservative candidate Jim Baker. The party faced several mishaps during the campaign, notably the decision of their presumed candidate, Karen Oldford, to run for the Liberals and the decision by the president of the United Steelworkers union local at Wabush Mines to endorse the Labrador Party instead of the NDP. [11]

2007 provincial election

In the 2007 Newfoundland and Labrador general election the party ran candidates in 36 of the 48 electoral districts. Due to a lack of funds, Michael spent most of her time campaigning in the St. John's Metropolitan Area. She did make campaign stops in Burin-Placentia West, central Newfoundland and Western Labrador. [12] Michael defeated her Progressive Conservative opponent Maria Afonso by a 17% margin but the party was unable to make any other gains throughout the province. [12]

2011 provincial election

In the 2011 general election the Progressive Conservatives won their third straight majority government. The New Democrats placed second in the popular vote and won a record number of five seats. [13] Despite this they finished third behind the Liberal Party in seats and the Liberals remained the Official Opposition. [14]

Efforts as leader

In March 2010, she called on government to immediately put a permanent air ambulance in western Labrador following a fatal incident in which a 56-year-old man died while waiting for an air ambulance to arrive. [15] In May 2010, she called for the House of Assembly to urge government to increase funding to help problem gamblers and establish a new plan for reduction leading to elimination of VLTs. [16] She has also supported a ban on bottled water in government offices. [17] In July 2010, she criticized the Williams Government's for carelessness after a mistake from the Department of Education resulted in approximately 6,500 high school students from across the province receiving the wrong marks, or no marks on their transcripts. [18]

Public opinion

During the majority of time as leader, Michael and her party's support remained under 10 percent in the polls. Under her leadership the party's popularity was consistent with where they had been in public opinion over the past 20 years. After the 2011 federal election in which the New Democratic Party overtook the Liberals as the Official Opposition, support for Michael and the provincial NDP surged in a Corporate Research Associates (CRA) poll. On June 7, 2011, a poll showed that the party's support since March 2011, had risen from eight percent to 20 percent. This placed them in a statistical tie with the Liberal Party who were at 22 percent. Both parties however trailed the Progressive Conservatives (PC) who had the support of 57 percent. Michael's own popularity spiked, since the previous poll by CRA her popularity had risen from five percent to 14 percent. This placed her just behind Liberal leader Yvonne Jones who was at 16 percent, Premier Kathy Dunderdale had the support of 51 percent. [19] [20] [21] By August 2011, Michael and her New Democratic Party had over taken the Liberal Party to place second behind the Progressive Conservatives. A CRA poll conducted throughout August showed that NDP support rose to 24%, while the Liberals remained at 20% and the PC Party fell slightly to 54%. While 50% thought Dunderdale was the best choice for premier, 17% of thought Michael was the best choice compared to 16% for new Liberal leader Kevin Aylward. [22] [23]

Caucus revolt and 2015-2019

On October 21, 2013, it was revealed that Michael had received a letter from her caucus over the previous weekend calling for a leadership election to be held in 2014. The caucus felt that without renewal in the party they would have trouble attracting quality candidates and public support in the 2015 election. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Michael said she was shocked by the letter and felt betrayed by her caucus. Michael said she planned to sit down with her caucus before making a decision on what to do. [24]

The letter led to a public fight within the NDP, particularly among the caucus. Both Gerry Rogers and George Murphy said they regretted sending the letter and supported Michael, while Dale Kirby and Chris Mitchelmore stood behind what they had written in the letter. Following the caucus meeting Michael agreed to having a vote on her leadership at the next annual general meeting of the party. Both Kirby and Mitchelmore later announced they were leaving the caucus to sit as Independent MHAs, and both men joined the Liberal Party in February 2014. The dispute over Michael's leadership also led to members of the provincial executive to resign. [25] [26] [27] In May 2014 a party convention reaffirmed her leadership with the support of 75% of delegates. Michael announced on January 6, 2015, that she is stepping down as party leader after the party performed poorly in four by-elections, but will not be stepping down as an MHA. [2] She was succeeded by Earle McCurdy following a leadership election on March 7, 2015. [28] Michael successfully contested the 2015 provincial election in the district of St. John's East-Quidi Vidi. [29] [30] She subsequently served as NDP House Leader in the following parliamentary sessions as Earle McCurdy did not win his seat.

Following the resignation of her successor as NDP leader, Earle McCurdy, Michael was appointed interim leader of the NDP in 2017. [31] She served as interim leader until the election of MHA Gerry Rogers as leader in April 2018. She declined to run for re-election in the 2019 election in order to give party leader Alison Coffin a chance to win a seat. [32] [33]

Electoral history

Lorraine Michael
Lorraine Michael NL NDP.jpg
Member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
for St. John's East-Quidi Vidi
Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi (2006-2015)
In office
November 1, 2006 –April 17, 2019
2015 Newfoundland and Labrador general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
New Democratic Lorraine Michael3038
Liberal Paul Antle2365
Progressive Conservative Joshua Collier478
Total valid votes
Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi - 2011 Newfoundland and Labrador general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
  NDP Lorraine Michael3,23965.28%
Progressive Conservative John Noseworthy 1,55031.24%–
  Liberal Drew Brown1733.49%
Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi - 2007 Newfoundland and Labrador general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
  New Democrat Lorraine Michael306256.8+1.6
  Progressive Conservative Maria Afonso213539.6-5.2
  Liberal Maura Beam1963.6+3.6

[34] }

Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, By-election - November 1, 2006 On the resignation of Jack Harris, May, 2006
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
  New Democrat Lorraine Michael196855.2+6.7
  Progressive Conservative Jerome Kennedy 159544.8+1.0

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References

  1. ↑ Michael was the Permanent Leader of the NDP during this time
  2. 1 2 "Lorraine Michael Quits As N.L. NDP Leader". Huffington Post. Canadian Press. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Voter Almanac - Lorraine Michael". mapleleafweb.co. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 Gushue, John (25 August 2011). "Lorraine Michael: Aiming for a breakthrough". CBC News. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  5. ↑ "Voisey's Bay Mine and Mill Environmental Assessment Panel Report, Appendix A: Panel Members". Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  6. ↑ MacEachern, Daniel (12 December 2016). "MHA Lorraine Michael diagnosed with, treated for breast cancer". CBC News. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  7. ↑ Beswick, Aaron (29 May 2006). "Activist stepping up for NDP leadership race". The Telegram. p. A4.
  8. ↑ "Michael waltzes to victory in NDP leadership". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 May 2006. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  9. ↑ "Michael holds Signal Hill for NDP". CBC News. 1 November 2006.
  10. ↑ "Personalities top politics in Signal Hill byelection". CBC News. 31 October 2006.
  11. ↑ "NDP support leaking to Labrador Party: union official". CBC News. 23 February 2007.
  12. 1 2 "NDP Leader Michael alone again". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 October 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  13. ↑ "NDP celebrates historic gains". CBC News. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  14. ↑ "Dunderdale leads N.L. Tories to majority". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  15. ↑ "Air ambulance needed in western Labrador: NDP". CBC News. 20 March 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  16. ↑ "Amended NDP bill on VLTs passes". New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. 21 June 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  17. ↑ "Question Period May 4". New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. 4 May 2010. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  18. ↑ "Wrong grades in N.L. get flunked by NDP". CBC News. 23 July 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  19. ↑ "Support for the Progressive Conservative Party Remains High" (PDF). Corporate Research Associates. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  20. ↑ "PCs, Dunderdale Still Dominate: Poll". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  21. ↑ "Tories drop, NDP surge in new poll". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 June 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  22. ↑ "PCs LEAD BY A WIDE MARGIN GOING INTO ELECTION" (PDF). Corporate Research Associates. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  23. ↑ "PC support holds as NDP makes gains: poll". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  24. ↑ "N.L. NDP Leader Lorraine Michael facing caucus revolt". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  25. ↑ "Mixed messages from NDP caucus, executive". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  26. ↑ Bailey, Sue (29 October 2013). "Newfoundland NDP Leader pledges to stay on after leadership feud". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  27. ↑ "Another N.L. NDP executive member resigns". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  28. ↑ "Lorraine Michael stepping down as NDP leader". CBC News. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  29. ↑ "NDP Leader Earle McCurdy loses to Siobhan Coady". CBC News. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  30. ↑ "Full list of winners in Newfoundland and Labrador election". CBC News, November 30, 2015.
  31. ↑ "Lorraine Michael named interim NDP leader". Saltwire Network. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  32. ↑ "NDP MHA Lorraine Michael steps aside, leader Alison Coffin to run in St. John's East-Quidi Vidi". CBC News. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  33. ↑ "NDP MHA Lorraine Michael stepping down, endorses party leader Alison Coffin for St. John's East-Quidi Vidi seat". The Telegram. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  34. ↑ Newfoundland & Labrador Vote 2007. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
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