Labrador goes Liberal in Election 2015 as party sweeps all 4 seats

The Liberals have come up big in the Big Land, winning all four districts in Labrador in Monday night's provincial election.

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None of the races were close, but the most competition came in Labrador West, where Graham Letto won with 43.8 per cent of the vote, despite Letto not currently residing full-time in the district, something he took heat for during the campaign.

"I'm feeling overwhelmed actually," said Letto, moments after he was declared MHA-elect.

The NDP's Ron Barron came in second with 34.7 per cent.

Letto's win pushed out the incumbent MHA, Progressive Conservative Nick McGrath, who came in third with 21.5 per cent.

"We had an awesome team, a very dedicated team of volunteers who really wanted to win this. We put together a plan, and a strategy and we stuck with it, right from day one," said Letto.

Tory minister out

In the district of Lake Melville, political newcomer Perry Trimper unseated the incumbent Tory, cabinet minister Keith Russell.

"Quite humbled, quite relieved, quite happy," summed up Trimper.

"People were very loyal to Keith. He's won many battles, and he's a formidable guy to deal with in a competition like an election."

Russell earned 28.6 per cent of the vote. The NDP's Arlene Michelin came in third with 9.4 per cent.

Trimper said his campaign owed its success to more than just the Liberal popularity across the province.

"I enjoyed the partisan Liberal support, but I also think that I managed to convince a lot of people who were in other camps, who just said, 'yeah, maybe we got something here. lets work together.' I'm really pleased about that part," said Trimper.

Massive margins

Two seats had been just about sure bets even before polls closed.

In Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, incumbent Lisa Dempster crushed her opponents with 93 per cent of the vote. NDP candidate Jennifer Deon came in second with 3.8 per cent, and the PC's Jason MacKenzie earned 3.2 per cent.

Dempster said while she campaigned hard, the lack of a local Tory or NDP candidate boosted her success.

"It no doubt absolutely played a role, because the day is gone when people can parachute into a district and think that they can provide representation. It doesn't compare with boots on the ground," said Dempster.

Similarly, in Torngat Mountains, incumbent Randy Edmunds — who was the only candidate to campaign in the district — dominated, winning 92.6 per cent of the vote.

The other two parties trailed distantly, with the NDP's parachute candidate Mark Sharkey garnering 4.6 per cent, and the PC's executive director Sharon Vokey coming in third with 2.7 per cent of the vote.

"To be the only candidate that goes around certainly shows a lot. And being the only name probably on the ballot that a lot of people recognize certainly helps," said Edmunds.

Edmunds said he's looking forward to the leap from opposition status to push forward regional issues, such as the high cost of transportation and the long-awaited new Labrador ferry.

"Hopefully being on the government's side now, we can push for more resources to address those problems, those issues," said Edmunds.