Dwight Ball

The Honourable Dwight Ball MHA
Premier Dwight Ball in November 2016
13th Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 December 2015
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Lieutenant Governor	Frank Fagan
Preceded by	Paul Davis
Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 December 2015
Preceded by	Keith Russell
Leader of the Opposition
In office 17 November 2013 – 14 December 2015
Premier	Kathy Dunderdale Tom Marshall Paul Davis
Preceded by	Eddie Joyce (Interim)
Succeeded by	Paul Davis
In office 3 January 2012 – 18 July 2013 INTERIM
Premier	Kathy Dunderdale
Preceded by	Yvonne Jones
Succeeded by	Eddie Joyce (Interim)
Leader of the Liberal Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 November 2013 Interim: 3 January 2012 – 5 July 2013
Preceded by	Eddie Joyce (Interim)
Member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly for Humber-Gros Morne Humber Valley (2007, 2011-2015)
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 November 2015
Preceded by	district established
In office 11 October 2011 – 30 November 2015
Preceded by	Darryl Kelly
Succeeded by	district abolished
In office 13 February 2007 – 9 October 2007
Preceded by	Kathy Goudie
Succeeded by	Darryl Kelly
Personal details
Born	c. 1957 (age 58–59) Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador
Political party	Liberal

Dwight Ball (born c. 1957) is a Canadian politician, the 13th and current Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador since 14 December 2015 and an MHA. He represents the electoral district of Humber Valley in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly and has served as leader of the Liberal Party since November 2013.

On 3 January 2012, Ball began his duties as Leader of the Official Opposition and interim leader of the Liberal Party. On 5 July 2013, Ball stepped down as interim leader of the Liberal Party to run for the position permanently in the 2013 leadership election, which he won. He was sworn in on 14 December 2015.

On 30 November 2015, Ball won a 31-seat majority government in the 2015 election.

Early life and career

Ball was raised in Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador, and graduated from Elwood Regional High School.^[1] He attended Memorial University when he was 17 years old.^[1] His younger brother is Deer Lake's mayor Dean Ball.^[2]

Ball was the recipient of the Bowl of Hygeia for his work as a community pharmacist that began with his franchising of the Deer Lake Pharmacy.^[1] Ball later bought a community pharmacy in Springdale.^[1] Ball is also the owner of several senior care homes and is involved in real estate development and venture capital investments.^[1] The towns of Deer Lake and Springdale have independently both named Ball as Employer of the Year for his contributions to supportive employment programs in the area.^[1]

Politics

Ball was the Liberal candidate in the district of Humber Valley in the 2003 provincial election but was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Kathy Goudie by less than 200 votes. When Goudie resigned from the legislature, Ball ran in a by-election to succeed her on 13 February 2007. At first, it was announced that Progressive Conservative candidate Darryl Kelly had won the by-election by a margin of twelve votes; however, Ball was later declared elected by a margin of 18 votes. A judicial recount was conducted weeks later and resulted in a reduction of Ball's lead to seven votes.^[3][4] In a rematch in the general election on 9 October 2007, Kelly defeated Ball by 254 votes. Four years later Ball once again ran as the Liberal candidate in the 2011 election and this time narrowly defeated Kelly by 68 votes.^[5]

Leadership

At a press conference on 15 December 2011, the Liberal Party announced that Ball would serve as interim leader of the party and as the Leader of the Official Opposition, effective 3 January 2012.^[6] He succeeds Kevin Aylward, who failed to win a seat in the general election, as leader of the Liberal Party and Yvonne Jones as the Official Opposition Leader. Ball announced on the same day that he planned to run for the permanent leadership of the party at the next leadership convention, and that he would step down as interim leader 90 days before the convention to even the playing field for other candidates.^[7] In May 2012, the party announced the leadership convention would take place from 15–17 November 2013.^[8] On 5 July 2013, Ball stepped down as interim leader of the Liberal Party to run for the position permanently in the leadership election that November, which he won with 59% of the vote on the 3rd ballot.^[9][10] Ball served as leader for the party in the 2015 general election.^[1]

Premiership (2015-)

Ball was sworn in as Premier in December 2015 after leading the Liberal Party to win 31 of 40 seats in the House of Assembly in the election in November.

Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs

Ball took over the post of Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs from PC Keith Russell after the election in 2015. This decision was somewhat controversial as none of the Aboriginal MHAs from Labrador were appointed to Ball's cabinet and Ball was neither from Labrador or an Aboriginal^[11] however the move was supported by NunatuKavut president and former Labrador MP Todd Russell.^[12]

In 2016, Ball announced a study on the costs of a fixed link between the island and Labrador.^[13]

Inquiries

In December 2015, it was announced that public inquiries into the deaths of Don Dunphy (a man from Mitchells Brook who was shot dead by a police officer after posting content on Twitter that was deemed a "security threat".) and Burton Winters (a teenager from Makkovik who got lost by himself outside of his community and died of hypothermia while a search helicopter did not arrive until 52 hours later.) would take place.^[14]

2016-17 budget

The provincial government unveiled its budget in April 2016 and it implements austerity measures. Ball and Minister of Finance Cathy Bennett do not expect the province to see another surplus until 2022.

Anti-austerity protests have taken place across the province in areas like St. John's and Happy Valley-Goose Bay.^[15]

Natural Resources

Ed Martin scandal

In early 2016, Nalcor Energy CEO Ed Martin left the company. Ball and Martin each claim that Martin left under conflicting circumstances.^[16][17]

Lower Churchill Project

The coast of the Lower Churchill Project has doubled since it started development nearly a decade before Ball took office. The province's financial situation was different when the project started development, the price of oil was high (Newfoundland and Labrador is an oil-producing province), however the price of oil and the value of the Canadian dollar has gone down since. Ball has blamed the governments of Danny Williams and Kathy Dunderdale for the amount of problems that the project has caused.^[18]

Popularity

During the 2015 election campaign Ball's liberals usually saw public approval ratings well over 50%. His party earned 57.2% of the votes in the election. In February 2016, a poll showed that 60% of respondents approved of Ball's work as premier.^[19]

The 2016-17 budget had a huge impact on Ball's public approval. A poll from MQO Research in April 2016 showed a near tie in support for all 3 parties,^[20] a huge difference from a few months later when Ball's liberals had far more support than the other 2 parties. Combined with the scandal involving Ed Martin, Ball's public support has dropped at a fast rate since the election. A poll in May 2016 showed that Ball was the least popular head of government in the country with a 17% approval rating. The second lowest score was Ontario's Kathleen Wynne with 24%.^[21]

An online petition calling for Ball's resignation went viral in June 2016^[22] however Ball has stated that he will not resign and he also stated that the province would not go bankrupt.^[23]

Support within the Liberal Party

Paul Lane, the MHA for Mount Pearl-Southlands was suspended from the liberal caucus in 2016 due to his opposition to the budget and an online petition called for Brian Warr to leave the caucus and sit as an independent MHA however Warr did not change parties.^[24] Drew Brown, a liberal candidate in the 2011 election, wrote an article for Vice News calling for Ball's resignation^[25] and he later criticized the government's oversight of the Lower Churchill Project and its impacts on Lake Melville.^[26] Ball has also been criticized by former premier Roger Grimes.^[27]

Electoral record

^[28]

References

External links

• Dwight Ball

First Ministers of Canada
Federal	Prime Minister: Justin Trudeau (Liberal)
Provincial	AB: Rachel Notley (NDP) BC: Christy Clark (Liberal) MB: Brian Pallister (Progressive Conservative) NB: Brian Gallant (Liberal) NL: Dwight Ball (Liberal) NS: Stephen McNeil (Liberal) ON: Kathleen Wynne (Liberal) PE: Wade MacLauchlan (Liberal) QC: Philippe Couillard (Liberal) SK: Brad Wall (Saskatchewan)
Territorial	NT: Bob McLeod NU: Peter Taptuna YT: Darrell Pasloski (Yukon)

First Ministers of Newfoundland and Labrador
Colonial Prime Ministers & Premiers (1855–1907)	Little Kent Hoyles Carter Bennett Carter Whiteway Thorburn Whiteway Goodridge Greene Whiteway Winter Bond
Dominion Prime Ministers (1907–34)	Bond Morris Crosbie Lloyd Cashin Squires Warren Hickman Monroe Alderdice Squires Alderdice
Chairmen of the Commission of Government (1934–49)	Anderson Walwyn Macdonald
Provincial Premiers (1949–present)	Smallwood Moores Peckford Rideout Wells Tobin Tulk Grimes Williams Dunderdale Marshall Davis Ball
Book Category Portal

Current members of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
Liberal	Ball C. Bennett D. Bennett Bragg Browne Byrne Coady Crocker B. Davis Dean Dempster Edmunds Finn Gambin-Walsh Haggie Haley Hawkins Holloway Joyce King Kirby Letto Mitchelmore Osborne Parsley A. Parsons P. Parsons Reid Trimper Warr
Progressive Conservative	P. Davis Brazil Hutchings Kent K. Parsons Perry Petten
New Democrat	Michael Rogers
Independents	Lane