The Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party is a social democratic political party in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is led by Jack Harris. The NDP has never formed the government in the province.

The NDP is the successor party to the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. The Newfoundland CCF was founded in 1955 when Sam Drover, a member of the Newfoundland House of Assembly left the Liberals to sit as a CCFer. Drover became leader of the new provincial party, which fielded ten candidates, mostly in rural districts, in the 1956 provincial election. The party failed to win any seats: Drover lost his own riding, winning 237 votes to the Liberal candidate's 1,437.

The CCF did not run in the 1959 election, but supported the Newfoundland Democratic Party. This party had been organized by the labour movement to protest the Smallwood government's decertification of the International Woodworkers of America in the course of a logging strike. The Newfoundland Democratic Party ran eighteen candidates, elected none, and disbanded after the election.

In 1961, the federal CCF merged with the labour movement to become the New Democratic Party of Canada. The Newfoundland CCF followed suit and many supporters of the Newfoundland Democratic Party joined the new NDP.

In the 1962 election, the NDP came to an agreement with the Progressive Conservatives not to run candidates in two ridings, in exchange for the Tories not contesting two ridings on the west coast of the island where the Newfoundland Democratic Party had done particulary well. The deal helped the Tories elect their two candidates in the ridings not contested by the NDP, but the NDP failed to elect anyone to the legislature. It did come within 240 votes of winning Humber West riding.

The New Democratic Party won its first seat in the House of Assembly in 1986 when Gene Long was elected. The party has been represented in the provincial legislature continually since 1990. It currently has two MHAs.

The Newfoundland and Labrador NDP is affiliated to the New Democratic Party of Canada. The federal NDP has had two members elected to the Canadian House of Commons from Newfoundland:

• Fonse Faour, who won a by-election in 1978 and was re-elected in the 1979 Canadian election; and
• Jack Harris, who won a 1987 by-election.

See also: List of political parties in Canada

External links

• Newfoundland & Labrador NDP (http://www.nl.ndp.ca)