Newfoundlander

The new leader will be chosen two weeks from today, and this past week hasn't been kind to the party. The party lost a by-election on Tuesday night in a seat previously held by a high profile cabinet minister. And yesterday Finance Minister Charlene Johnson, who has just reportedly reached a pension reform deal with unions, announced that she may quit politics in the coming days. Johnson and her five year old daughter may move to Brunei where her husband works.

Newfoundland and Labrador is not part of the Maritimes. So there are 25 seats in the Martitimes with 13 being represented by Conservative MPs.

Over half the seats in the Maritimes went Conservative. 8 out of 10 seats in New Brunswick went Conservative and the party won 43.9% of the vote, pretty much the same level of support the party received in Ontario where they won 44.4%. Plus it shouldn't matter how much support the party received in the region, they're governing for everyone.

Delegate selection meetings wrapped up 10 days ago and we're now starting to get a sense of how much support each camp has. Both John Ottenheimer's camp and Paul Davis' are predicting that the two are roughly tied with around 40% of the vote each. Ottenheimer's people say he has a slight lead while Davis' say he has a slide lead. Steve Kent wouldn't release numbers but he disputes that he's in third place. The other two have similar numbers for him at around 150 delegates, which means he's at around 20%. Kent says he has over 200 delegates and in second place behind Davis. There have yet to be any leadership debates but there are suppose to be several before the convention in three weeks. One is scheduled for September 7 and will be hosted by NTV. Not sure what kind of a role these will play, seeing there isn't a significant difference between the three. Kent has released the most "policy" though he hasn't been overly specific but he has announced some policies that go against previous stances by the party and government. As well an Abacus Data poll showed that Davis was the frontrunner for leader among the general public. Kent was actually in second place followed closely by Ottenheimer in third.

Seeing you need 155 seats for a majority government the Conservatives had an 11 seat majority. There were 13 Conservative MPs elected in the Maritimes in 2011.

Probably the best overview of the race so far. Nominations close tomorrow. http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1087758/newfoundland-tories-revamp-leadership-race/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/paul-davis-enters-pc-race-with-call-for-new-beginning-1.2694119

Health minister Paul Davis will launch his campaign on Wednesday while Municipal Affairs minister Steve Kent is expected to announce on Thursday. Bill Barry announced today he's not re-entering the race.

Nope! Happened in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2011.

Will be interesting to see if Christine can scare off the competition. I don't know much about her, but I think the biggest knock against her is her age.

I didn't think the caucus would want him staying on. Are there any senior members of the caucus, without leadership ambitions, who are widely respected throughout the province and could help turn things around?

No thanks.

Well most people seemed to blame Danny Williams for the way the leadership race played out. Coleman was seen as being his candidate and was therefore unbeatable. He had managed to get mostly Nobody running from caucus got a lot of attention, and I think there are numerous reason that people didn't step up a few months ago. I've heard that there were several who wanted to run and also believed they could win the leadership. However, they didn't think they could win the next election and therefore didn't bother. The party set a fairly large spending limit, $350,000. While that might not seem to be that big to people in some provinces it's a large amount in a province with a population of 525,000. The leading candidates for the Liberal Party all spent over $300,000, they had no spending cap, but each of them were millionaires and mostly financed their bids themselves. None of the potential candidates from caucus are wealthy individuals so they'd need to raise a lot of money or go in debt. Both Frank Coleman and Bill Barry, the other candidate who dropped out but may run again, are worth a lot of money and could fund their own campaigns. So I think money played a big role. I also think Dunderdale's popularity played a significant role. She became very unpopular among the public and so did her government. I think this is a reason why many in her cabinet felt they could not win an election. However, under Tom Marshall the government has become quite popular even though the PC Party isn't doing well. The most recent CRA poll showed government satisfaction at 64% and the PC Party at 29%. An Angus Reid poll showed that Marshall was tied in third place for most popular premier, with a 59% approval rating. Marshall himself has always been well respected and liked but I think the popularity of him and his government probably shows others in caucus that they could turn things around despite Dunderdale's unpopularity. It seems as though now at least two in caucus will run, Health minister Paul Davis and Municipal Affairs minister Steve Kent. Fisheries minister Keith Hutchings is also a possibility. There are some other possibilities in caucus I suppose, but these are the only ones who gave it thought last time. As well former minister John Ottenheimer has announced he'll try and make a political comeback and is seeking the leadership. Ottenheimer said the only reason he didn't enter a few months ago is because Coleman had to much support.

The PC Party in Newfoundland and Labrador are back to square one, with Frank Coleman announcing today that he is not going to be sworn in as premier in three weeks.

Stupid autocorrect, yes Chong. He's also fairly young, has been screwed by Harper, is and indepdent think and overall likeable.

Michael Chong has said he's been encouraged to seek the leadership. I think he'd be an excellent fit for the job.

Frank Coleman is the sole candidate remaining in the leadership race and will therefore be the next premier.

Three outsiders are the only candidates to seek the PC Party leadership, and subsequently the premiership. The candidates are; Bill Barry, Frank Coleman and Wayne Bennett.

Bill Barry is the only person to officially announce his candidacy. Ministers Kent and Dalley aree xpected to make a decision soon. Former Minister Skinner will most likely announce his candidacy very soon. Businessman Frank Coleman will probably have a decision this coming week, and I'd guess he's in. Former minister John Ottenheimer and Paul Oram probably won't run but their names are still out there. Ministers Hutchings, Davis and King have all announced they're not running as have Tim Powers, Senator Fabian Manning and Charlie Oliver.

With the resignation of Kathy Dunderdale this past Friday the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador will be selecting a new leader, and subsequently the 12th Premier of the province, in the coming months. Currently five cabinet ministers names are mentioned as possible candidates; Derrick Dalley, Paul Davis, Keith Hutchings, Steve Kent and Darin King. Former minister Shawn Skinner, who was defeated in 2011, is interested in running and it seems likely he will run. Businessman Bill Barry is set to announce his candidacy on Wednesday and it sounds as though businessman Charlie Oliver will be entering the race. Ottawa-based consultant and Conservative commentator Tim Powers has said he's "listening" when asked about a bid. John Ottenheimer's name has also been brought up, he was a longtime MHA and minister who left provincial politics in 2007 and ran federally in 2011. And of course Rick Hillier's name was also mentioned, as it is for everything. Barry is set to announce his candidacy on Wednesday and with ministers being told they have to leave cabinet to run we could possibly find out their intentions before a cabinet shuffle this week.

Agreed.

That's why they attack the "tar sands"?

Vic Fedeli? Christine Elliott?

The person using "socialist" as their name talks about others having a lack of knowledge?

We heard that in 2011 too.