HUMBER EAST (20)

Candidates:

Liberal: Bob Mercer PC: Tom Marshall

Current MHA: Bob Mercer (LIB)

District Profile: The district of Humber East includes the eastern section of the City of Corner Brook as well as Humber Village, Little Rapids, Massey Drive, Pasadena, and Steady Brook. There is a mix of urban and rural areas. The district is among the more prosperous in the province.

Candidate profiles:

Liberal Bob Mercer was born at Coley’s Point. He enrolled in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University in 1963. He graduated in 1971 from the University of New Brunswick with a B.Sc. in forestry and in 1973 with a M.Sc. Mercer was first elected in 1996. After serving as deputy chair of committees, he was appointed Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly in 2000. In the February 2003 cabinet shuffle, Mercer was appointed minister of environment.

PC Tom Marshall is the son of the late Sylvia Marshall and Jack Marshall, former Progressive Conservative Senator and MP for Humber-St. George's-St. Barbe. He graduated from Memorial University in 1969 with a B.Comm., and from Dalhousie with a law degree in 1972. Marshall is a senior partner with the firm of Monaghan, Marshall, Murphy and Watton in Corner Brook. His partner, Mike Monaghan is running for the PCs in Bay of Islands district.

Political History: PC Lynn Verge held the district from 1979 to 1993.

1999: Mercer held on to the seat in 1999, defeating PC Janice Wells. 1996: In 1996, Liberal Bob Mercer defeated PC Verge by just seven votes. 1989: Humber East is known for one of the most fascinating battles in recent provincial political history: in 1989 Verge defeated Clyde Wells by 143 votes.