ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Premier Dwight Ball says voters can expect to head to the polls before the end of the school year on June 27.
Ball made the comments on Friday morning from the Memorial University Signal Hill campus.
“What most people are telling me that they don’t want is to see an overlap with the federal government,” said Ball.
“I think you can expect to see an election in Newfoundland and Labrador before school closes this year.”
Ball says the government is still working on the budget, so he declined further details on when the writ of election will drop for the province. Ball says at this point, he does not anticipate closing the House of Assembly early. The House of Assembly is scheduled to close on June 6.
Ball says negotiations are still ongoing about the Atlantic Accord. The deadline agreed between the province and Ottawa is Sunday. Ball says to expect an update of some sort on Monday.
Progressive Conservative Leader Ches Crosbie says he’s not surprised by the timeframe presented by Ball.
Crosbie says his goal is to have all Progressive Conservative candidates in place ahead of the drop of the writ, though he acknowledges there might be some districts where candidates are loathe to come forward.
“There’s some districts, for example (Andrew) Parsons’ district in Port aux Basque and that area on the southwest coast,” said Crosbie.
“He won by 97 per cent last time, so I’m just stating facts here when I say there are going to be some seats where the Liberals have a real arm lock that it’s not going to be easy at this rate to have people to run in.”
The New Democratic Party recently opened nominations in all 40 districts across the province, though it’s unclear how the party will decide on closing dates for its nominations.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Alliance is still waiting on Elections Newfoundland and Labrador to complete its review of the alliance’s application to win party status for the coming election. An update is expected in the coming days.
To date, 38 candidates have been confirmed for the general election. The Liberals have 23 confirmed candidates, the Progressive Conservatives have 14 confirmed candidates and the NDP has yet to close nominations in any district, though three candidates have expressed their intention to seek nominations. The alliance has yet to put forward any timeline for its nominations.
Ball is scheduled to testify at the Muskrat Falls Inquiry on July 4 and 5. Ball’s testimony will be the last of Phase 2 of the inquiry.
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