Baie Verte - Springdale

About the race

Incumbent Kevin Pollard (PC) aims to hold this traditional Tory district, and win his first victory in a general election. Pollard won a 2008 byelection called after Tom Rideout quit politics in a dispute with key members of the Williams government.

Competing against him is Liberal candidate Neil Ward, who hopes to become the first Liberal to win the seat in two decades, and New Democrat Tim Howse, who placed third in both the 2007 election and the 2008 byelection.

District profile

The economy depends heavily on fishing and sealing, both of which have been struggling in recent years. Plans have emerged to revive mining on the Baie Verte Peninsula.

Main communities are Baie Verte, Springdale, La Scie and Fleur de Lys.

The district was known as Baie Verte until the 2007 redistribution, which added 28 per cent of the now-defunct Windsor-Springdale district while keeping the older territory intact.

Estimated population: 11,525

Political history

The district has voted Tory since 1982, with the exception of a byelection in 1991. The district's borders shifted slightly south and west in the new redistribution, taking in small parts of the Humber Valley and the former Grand Falls-Buchans districts.

2008: There was a byelection in the Baie Verte-Springdale district following the retirement of Progressive Conservative and former premier Tom Rideout. PC Kevin Pollard defeated Liberal Shaun Lane by 734 votes.

2007: Progressive Conservative and former premier Tom Rideout was elected, defeating Liberal Glendon Bungay with over 73 per cent of the vote. Longtime MHA Paul Shelley had resigned three months before the election, leaving the seat vacant.

1993 - 2003: Progressive Conservative Paul Shelley, who was an aide to former premier Tom Rideout, defeated Liberal MHA Harold Small in 1993. Shelley was re-elected in 1996, 1999 and 2003; in the 2003 election, he defeated Liberal Maurice Budgell with nearly 75 per cent of the vote.

1991-1993: Liberal Harold Small won a byelection after Tom Rideout's departure from politics.

1982 - 1991: After crossing the floor to join the Progressive Conservatives, Tom Rideout held Baie Verte for another decade. Rideout was re-elected, as a Tory, in 1982, 1985 and 1989, when he ran as premier. [The Liberals formed the government that year.] After two years as Opposition leader, Rideout resigned in 1991 to pursue a law degree. He would return to provincial politics in 1999.

1975 - 1979: Tom Rideout was elected as a Liberal in 1975 and 1979.