1971 Newfoundland general election

1971 Newfoundland general election

October 28, 1971
42 seats to the 35th General Assembly of Newfoundland 22 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	87.9% ( 26.1 pp)
First party Second party Third party   PC NLP Leader Frank Moores Joey Smallwood Tom Burgess Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Labrador Leader since 1970 1949 1969 Leader's seat Humber West Placentia East Labrador West Last election 3 seats, 33.69% 39 seats, 61.33% New party Seats won 21 20 1 Seat change 18 19 1 Popular vote 120,655 104,523 5,595 Percentage 51.34% 44.48% 2.38% Swing 17.65pp 16.85pp n/a
Premier before election Joey Smallwood Liberal Premier after election Joey Smallwood Liberal

The 1971 Newfoundland general election was held on 28 October 1971 to elect members of the 35th General Assembly of Newfoundland. It resulted in a hung parliament as, with the support of the Labrador Party's lone MHA, the Smallwood government had the support of 21 MHAs compared to 21 for the Progressive Conservative party. Smallwood ultimately resigned in January 1972 allowing Moores' Tories to form a government but the instability in the House led to the March 24, 1972 provincial election.

Results

Summary of the 1971 Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly election results

Political party		Party leader	Candidates	MHAs			Popular vote
				1966	1971	±	#	%	± (pp)
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Moores	42	3	21	18	120,655	51.34%	17.65
	Liberal	Joey Smallwood	42	39	20	19	104,523	44.48%	16.85
	Labrador	Tom Burgess	3	n/a	1	1	5,595	2.38%	n/a
	New Democratic	John Connors	17	0	0		3,718	1.58%	0.24
	Independent Liberal		3	0	0		407	0.17%	n/a
	Independent		1	0	0		109	0.05%	2.33
Total			108	42	42		235,007	100%

Results by district

• Names in boldface type represent party leaders.
• † indicates that the incumbent did not run again.
• ‡ indicates that the incumbent ran in a different district.

St. John's

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP		Other
St. John's Centre 85.76% turnout		Anthony Murphy 3,708 67.43%		Leonard Levitz 1,592 28.95%		Graham Kelly 90 1.64%		David Owens (Independent) 109 1.98%		Anthony Murphy
St. John's East 85.91% turnout		William Marshall 2,936 69.81%		Brendan Kelly 1,270 30.19%						William Marshall
St. John's East Extern 85.58% turnout		Tom Hickey 7,954 66.19%		Howard Young 3,487 29.02%		Walter Noel 576 4.79%				Tom Hickey
St. John's North 90.52% turnout		John Carter 9,966 65.23%		Gordon Lidstone 5,313 34.77%						Nathaniel Noel†
St. John's South 83.74% turnout		Hugh Shea 5,712 63.79%		Francis Galgay 3,082 34.42%		Roy Taylor 160 1.79%				John Nolan‡ (ran in Ferryland)
St. John's West 85.05% turnout		John Crosbie 6,374 69.15%		Alma Badcock 2,844 30.85%						John Crosbie

Conception Bay

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		Other
Bay de Verde 77.66% turnout		Brendan Howard 1,286 49.86%		William Saunders 1,307 50.68%				William Saunders
Bell Island 87.28% turnout		Bern Fitzpatrick 820 34.35%		Steve Neary 1,567 65.65%				Steve Neary
Carbonear 88.91% turnout		Augustus Rowe 1,833 50.94%		George Clarke 1,765 49.06%				George Clarke
Harbour Grace 84.93% turnout		Harold Gosse 1,875 41.18%		Hubert Kitchen 2,409 52.91%		Hubert Badcock (Independent Liberal) 269 5.91%		Alec Moores†
Harbour Main 83.28% turnout		Gordon Dawe 4,417 28.12%		John Mahoney 3,605 22.95%		Darrell Cole (NDP) 151 0.96%		Philip Lewis†
		William Doody 4,084 26.00%		Ralph Fagan 3,452 21.97%				John Mahoney
Port de Grave 83.29% turnout		Herbert Bowering 1,793 41.73%		James Hussey 2,402 55.90%		Edgar Russell (NDP) 102 2.37%		Eric Dawe†

Avalon Peninsula

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	PC		Liberal
Ferryland 86.14% turnout		Thomas Doyle 1,980 51.38%		John Nolan 1,874 48.62%		Aidan Maloney†
Placentia East 84.91% turnout		William Patterson 2,014 41.39%		Joey Smallwood 2,852 58.61%		Alain Frecker†
St. Mary's 88.03% turnout		Gerry Ottenheimer 1,216 51.66%		Michael Maher 1,138 48.34%		James M. McGrath†
Trinity South 78.38% turnout		George Baker 2,267 40.80%		Uriah Strickland 3,424 61.62%		Uriah Strickland

Eastern Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP
Bonavista North 81.84% turnout		Robert Wells 2,844 46.11%		Paul Thoms 3,324 53.89%				Beaton Abbott†
Bonavista South 74.58% turnout		Jim Morgan 2,500 43.96%		Rossy Barbour 3,050 53.63%		Gerald Hayley 137 2.41%		Rossy Barbour
Fogo 77.04% turnout		Frederick Jesperson 1,949 41.90%		Earl Winsor 2,703 58.10%				Eric Jones†
Trinity North 77.70% turnout		Eric Martin 2,597 43.13%		Uriah Strickland 3,424 56.87%				Maxwell Lane†

Central Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP		Other
Gander 89.64% turnout		Harold Collins 5,030 62.00%		Douglas Sheppard 2,861 35.26%		Clarence Lingard 222 2.74%				Harold Collins
Grand Falls 85.27% turnout		Aubrey Senior 3,987 47.51%		Frederick W. Rowe 3,601 42.91%		John Connors 804 9.58%				Frederick W. Rowe
Green Bay 81.22% turnout		Aubrey Rolfe 1,835 38.50%		Harold Starkes 2,687 56.38%		Harold Card 244 5.12%				William Smallwood†
Lewisporte 83.24% turnout		James Russell 2,614 50.78%		John Whalen 2,364 45.92%		Walwin Blackmore 170 3.30%				Harold Starkes‡ (ran in Green Bay)
Twillingate 81.76% turnout		John Loveridge 1,487 40.50%		William Adams 2,155 58.69%		Roderick Woolridge 30 0.82%				Leslie Curtis†
White Bay South 88.85% turnout		William Eaton 1,433 35.53%		Bill Rowe 2,477 61.42%		Martin Saunders 73 1.81%		Ronald Budgell (Independent Liberal) 50 1.24%		Bill Rowe

Southern Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		Other
Burgeo-La Poile 79.85% turnout		Allan Evans 2,762 49.22%		Walter Hodder 2,674 47.66%		Andrew Wells (NDP) 175 3.12%		Walter Hodder
Burin 93.11% turnout		Don Hollett 3,050 45.49%		Alex Hickman 3,655 54.51%				Alex Hickman
Fortune Bay 78.93% turnout		Augustus Oldford 1,457 54.71%		H.R.V. Earle 1,206 45.29%				H.R.V. Earle
Hermitage 82.89% turnout		Roy Cheeseman 1,585 44.72%		Harold Piercey 1,850 52.20%		Leo Coffey (NDP) 109 3.08%		Abel Wornell†
Placentia West 85.30% turnout		Lawrence Hudson 1,240 33.38%		Patrick Canning 2,387 64.25%		Thomas Fitzpatrick (Independent Liberal) 88 2.37%		Patrick Canning

Western Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP
Humber East 89.66% turnout		Tom Farrell 5,654 62.87%		George Warren 2,998 33.34%		Calvin Hillyard 341 3.79%		Clyde Wells†
Humber West 90.95% turnout		Frank Moores 5,959 66.26%		Noel Murphy 3,270 36.36%		James Walsh 234 2.60%		Joey Smallwood‡ (ran in Placentia East)
Port au Port 93.50% turnout		Frederick Stagg 4,057 59.78%		William Callahan 2,730 40.22%				William Callahan
St. Barbe North 83.34% turnout		Boyd Hiscock 680 33.43%		James Chalker 1,354 66.57%				James Chalker
St. Barbe South 87.95% turnout		Edward Maynard 1,756 50.11%		Trevor Bennett 1,748 49.89%				Gerald Myrden†
St. George's 89.83% turnout		Alexander Dunphy 2,327 56.66%		Jeremiah Horan 1,777 43.27%				William Keough†
White Bay North 85.57% turnout		Gerald Moore 719 18.63%		Edward Roberts 3,140 81.36%				Edward Roberts

Labrador

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		Labrador		NDP
Labrador North		Arthur Hale 709 17.04%		Melvin Woodward 1,858 44.64%		Herbert Brett 1,545 37.12%				Earl Winsor‡ (ran in Fogo)
Labrador South 84.32% turnout		Edward Kean 176 9.40%		Joe Harvey 890 47.52%		Michael Martin 807 43.09%				Gerald Hill
Labrador West		Peter Walsh 1,659 25.73%		Roy Legge 1,445 22.41%		Tom Burgess 3,243 50.30%		Michael Neville 100 1.55%		Tom Burgess

Further reading

• Riggs, Bert (1981). "General Election #35: October 28, 1971". Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, volume 1. St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications Ltd. Retrieved April 6, 2025.