The Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador is a political party in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
The party is the provincial wing of the Liberal Party of Canada, and its current incarnation originated in 1948 as the Newfoundland Confederate Association. The NCA was an organization campaigning for Newfoundland to join Canadian confederation. At this time, Newfoundland was being governed by a Commission of Government appointed by the Government of the United Kingdom.
Joey Smallwood was the NCA's chief organizer and spokesman, and led the winning side of the 1949 referendum on Confederation.
Following the referendum victory, the NCA reorganized itself as the new province's Liberal Party under Smallwood's leadership. It won the province's first post-Confederation election for the House of Assembly held in May of 1949.
The Liberals under Smallwood promoted the diversification of the province's economy through various megaprojects. The provincial government invested in the construction of factories, the pulp and paper industry, the oil industry, hydro-electicity projects, the construction of highways and schools, the relocation of rural villages into larger centres, and other projects. These projects were ofyen very expensive, and yielded few results.
Smallwood grew increasingly autocratic during his 22 years in power. Disaffection with Smallwood, his party and even his government mounted within the province. He announced his retirement in 1969, only to run in the contest to succeed himself. Smallwood defeated John Crosbie for the leadership.
Crosbie and many young Liberals defected to the opposition Progressive Conservatives. The Conservatives had previously found support largely in the business community, and in and around St. John's.
The Liberals narrowly lost the 1971 election, but Smallwood refused to resign as Premier. Another election was held in 1972 which finally removed the Liberals from power.
Smallwood was forced out of the party, and formed his own Liberal Reform Party, which ran in the 1975 election against the Liberals and the Tories. The Liberals were badly split and demoralised, and remained on the opposition benches until 1989.
The post-Smallwood Liberals were much more pragmatic and cautious.
In 1989, the party returned to power under the leadership of Clyde Wells. Under Wells, the Liberal government eschewed the megaprojects and spending of the Smallwood era, and cut social programs, reduced the public service and even attempted to privatize the state-owned electrical utility, Newfoundland Hydro. In the face of public outrage, the Liberals backed down from privatization.
While the Tories were supporters of a decentralised federation and argued for the devolution of power from Ottawa to the provinces, the Liberals, particularly under Wells, supported a strong central government and helped kill the Meech Lake Accord, a package of proposed amendments to the Canadian constitution that would have increased the powers of provincial governments within Canada.
The Liberals remained closely tied to the federal Liberal Party of Canada. When Wells retired in 1996, he was replaced by former federal Liberal cabinet minister Brian Tobin. Tobin returned to federal politicas in 2000, after only four years as Premier.
By 2003, the Liberals had grown tired in power. Public disaffection and frustration had mounted, resulting in their electoral defeat at the hands of Danny Williams and the Tories.
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Several earlier groupings functioned under the name Liberal Party of Newfoundland from the granting of responsible government to the island in the 1850s until its suspension in 1934 when the Commission of Government was instituted. During that period, Newfoundland was an independent dominion within the British Empire, responsible for its own internal affairs.
The original Liberal Party was a coalition of Catholics and Methodists who opposed the Anglican-dominated political establishment. This party agitated for the granting of 'responsible government' to the island.
Shortly after responsible government was instituted in 1854, the Methodists left the party to join the Anglicans in the Conservative Party, leaving the Liberals as a (largely Irish) Catholic party. Political parties in the dominion were thus divided along sectarian lines for the next thirty years - a situation that resulted in periodic riots and other political violence. This division also reflected class differences: most Catholics were working class or farmers, and most members of the middle and business classes were Protestant.
In the 1880s, a denominational compromise was reached and political parties realigned with a new Liberal Party being formed by former Conservative Premier William Whiteway. Whiteway launched the new Liberal Party as a vehicle to promote the construction of a cross-island railway.
Under Robert Bond, the Liberals suffered a split when Edward Patrick Morris left to form the Newfoundland People's Party. The NPP won the 1909 and 1913 elections. After 1919, the NPP was called the Liberal-Labour-Progressive Party.
In 1919, Richard Squires merged his Liberal Party with the Fishermen's Protective Union to form the Liberal Reform Party.
The Liberal Reform Party won the 1919 election, but collapsed prior to the 1924 election due to a crisis over corruption. This crisis toppled both Squires and his successor, William Warren.
Some members of the Liberal Reform Party joined with Albert Hickman to form a new Liberal-Progressive Party.
Many former supporters of William Warren joined in alliance with former Conservative leader William J. Higgins to form the Liberal-Conservative Progressive Party. This party emerged as a conservative opposition to the Liberals and won the 1924 election. It later changed its name to the United Newfoundland Party.
By 1928, Squires had formed a new Liberal Party, which won the 1928 election. This second Squires government was again beset by corruption and scandal. The economic crisis caused by the Great Depression compunded these problems, and led to riots in 1932. Squires's government was toppled by the United Newfoundland Party.
The UNP was elected on a promise to consider suspending responsible government. Responsible government was suspended in 1934, and a Commission of Government appointed by the British govenrment took over the administration of Newfoundland. Newfoundland's status as an independent dominion came to an end, along with party politics.
Party politics returned to Newfoundland when it joined Canadian confederation in 1949.
The Liberals, both in their early incarnation and their relaunching under Whiteway, tended to be identified more with poorer Newfoundlanders, while the Conservatives tended to be the party of the business establishment.
See also: List of Newfoundland Prime Ministers