N.L. Liberal Party plans to restart leadership race June 8
It's not yet known when virtual voting will happen
The Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal leadership election committee says it will restart the process of naming a new leader of the party.
That process will officially resume on June 8, "assuming there are no impediments to doing so," the election committee said in an emailed statement Monday afternoon.
It said it will give notice a week before then so candidates can be prepared. Many details that come along with restarting the leadership race, including when virtual voting will happen, are still being worked out.
The contest began in February when Premier Dwight Ball announced he was stepping down. It was halted March 23, as the province was moving into a public health emergency that forced many businesses and institutions to close their doors, leaving tens of thousands of people either out of work or working from home.
John Abbott, who along with Andrew Furey is seeking the job, said earlier this month he believed the party should wait until the province moved into Alert Level 3 of its plan to resume activity with COVID-19 — which is June 8, as long as the number of COVID-19 cases remains manageable from the perspective of public health officials.
Abbott served under former premier Danny Williams as deputy minister of health, and again under outgoing Premier Ball after the Liberals dominated the 2015 election. Abbout was later removed from his role in the health portfolio and shifted into an advisory role, a move he believes was due to controversial comments he made two years ago about too many nurses taking too much sick leave and about how doctors could be more efficient.
Furey was the first contender to enter the race. He is an orthopedic surgeon and founder of humanitarian group Team Broken Earth, and politics run in his family. His father, George Furey, is the Speaker of the Senate. George's brother, Andrew's uncle, is Chuck Furey, a former cabinet minister.
The party had ordered Furey and Abbott to cease any campaigning indefinitely, and any violation of the terms of the suspension could result in discipline, including disqualification from the contest.
Abbott had been served a written reprimand for violating supplementary rules, which prohibit leadership candidates from "campaign-related media commentary until such time as the leadership election resumes," after sending a press release commenting on when the race should continue.
Neither candidate is permitted to accept any donations during the suspension, and both are prohibited from doing any interviews that have any political overtones.
Both teams were also ordered to make their campaign social media accounts inactive, and remove any campaign themes or messages from their personal social media accounts.
Voter registration is suspended until further notice as well.
'No reset'
The Liberal Party convention to choose Ball's successor had originally been scheduled for May 9. The race, however, was indefinitely postponed because of concerns that campaigning would be too risky during the public health emergency.
While there seemed to be an online swell of support for Health Minister John Haggie — who along with Ball and Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, takes centre stage for the daily COVID-19 briefings — to be allowed to enter the leadership race, party president John Allan said the nomination process would not reopen.
"Unequivocally no," Allan told CBC News in early May. "There will be no reset."
With files from Terry Roberts