The electoral district was created in 1949 upon the admission of Newfoundland to Canada. Between 1949 and 1988, this district was attached to the Island of Newfoundland, where more than half of its electorate resided. Liberal MP
Bill Rompkey held the seat from 1972 until his appointment to the
Senate of Canada in 1995.
Lawrence D. O'Brien was later elected in a by-election and held the district until his death in 2004. A by-election was held on May 24, 2005, with the result tipping the balance of the evenly split
38th Parliament. The
Liberal candidate,
Todd Russell, who was heavily favoured, ended up winning, but with a reduced percentage from the
2004 election. On December 16, 2004, MP Lawrence O'Brien died of cancer, the next year Prime Minister Paul Martin called a by-election for May 24, 2005. There was a possibility the by-election would not be held because of a non-confidence vote the week prior. The non-confidence vote would have toppled the government sending Canadians to the polls, which would have superseded the by-election. However, the motion failed by one vote, ensuring the by-election. The seat has traditionally been a Liberal stronghold, and O'Brien always carried the riding with comfortable pluralities. However, the federal Liberals had lost popularity in
Atlantic Canada since the
2004 federal election largely because of disputes with the Progressive Conservative provincial governments of these provinces, especially that of Newfoundland and Labrador over the relationship between offshore oil revenues and equalization payments. Historically, governing parties fare poorly in federal by-elections. However, this by-election was especially significant because of the make-up of the
38th Canadian Parliament. Following the 2004 election, the Liberals and the
New Democratic Party held 154 seats together, or exactly half of the 308-seat
House of Commons. After Liberal MP
Carolyn Parrish was expelled from that party, the two parties' combined total (prior to O'Brien's death) had been reduced to 153 (or 152 who are eligible to vote since the Speaker was elected as a Liberal). The Liberals were anxious to retain the seat, as its loss would have left the opposition
Conservative Party of Canada or the
Bloc Québécois as the only viable partners for the Liberals to get legislation passed in the House. Former Liberal MP
David Kilgour had left the party, further reducing its strength. Since the general election, it had been suggested that the New Democratic Party refrain from contesting by-elections in seats where the Liberals were strong but the NDP are not, to avoid
splitting the vote and thus help improve the chances securing a better position for the NDP in the House. Labrador would certainly be a prime example of such a seat — the NDP finished a distant fourth in the 2004 election. However, historically the NDP has been adamant in contesting all by-elections, and NDP leader
Jack Layton showed little interest in any such proposal. The NDP nominated Frances Fry on April 23 feeling it had a chance in this seat because of the Liberal fall in polls and the fact that the
provincial NDP had one of its two seats in Labrador. In the end, the Liberals picked up an easy victory, as expected, but while their actual vote total did not go down by much, their percentage of the vote went down over 10 points from the previous election as turnout was over 9% more than in the 2004 election. This high turnout is virtually unheard of for by-elections which normally have extremely poor turnouts. The additional voters appear to have been brought out by the tense national political situation and mostly voted for the Conservatives who picked up nearly 17 percentage points and the New Democrats who also increased their vote total.
Members of Parliament This riding has elected the following
members of Parliament: ==Election results==