Rookie Ferryland MHA hoping province escapes early election call
By Mark Squibb | Vol. 13 No. 1 (January 8, 2020)
When news of an early election broke in the spring, Loyola O’ Driscoll was probably in the most appropriate place possible for a man of his reputation — on the ice.
“I was away at a hockey tournament in Florida,” said O’Driscoll, who helped the Southern Shore Breakers to five Herder Memorial championship wins during his years playing with the senior hockey team.
“I had aspirations before to run, and I didn’t,” said O’Driscoll, who admitted to being on the fence about putting his name forward for nomination, being in another country at the time.
But like a sniper seeing the five hole open up and little time to shoot, he decided to take a shot.
“Once the championship game was over, I went into the dressing room, showered, and went to the airport,” said O’Driscoll, who would go on to win both the PC nomination, which was one of the few contested nominations in the province, and then the election, with over 60 percent of the vote.
O’Dricscoll’s win reflected both the longevity of the PCs in Ferryland district (constituents have voted blue since the early 1970s) and the provincial political ripple which saw the Liberals lose enough MHAs to lose their majority status.
“It’s been a real learning experience,” said O’Driscoll, one of many first time MHAs now serving in the House of Assembly.
O’Driscoll said one of the challenges is getting to all the different community events he would like to attend. Keep in mind, that although there are less than 10,000 constituents in the district, they are scattered over a large geographical area comprised of over two dozen communities. That means sometimes having to choose between which Remembrance Day Ceremony, or Canada Day celebration, or Santa Claus parade to attend.
“You can only go to one spot… so you try to spread it out,” said O’Driscoll. “You’re trying to help people as much as you can, when they get into areas where they need some help. That’s the most gratifying part, when you get something accomplished.”
He said sometimes the answer he has for a constituent may not always be the answer they want to hear, which can be difficult to deal with.
“I’m in the Opposition. So, it’s always hard to get stuff for your district. You always got to be fighting for it.”
One thing he said he’s currently fighting for is an upgrade of the Witless Bay Line— a slab of highway many motorists avoid to spare damage to their rims and chassis.
He’d also like to see road conditions near the Mistaken Point UNESCO site improved.
“They’ve had some pavement put down this year from former MHA, Keith Hutchings, so they’ve done that this year, which is great. But you always try to get more,” O’Driscoll said.
When it comes to such things, however, the resources of the governing party and the desires of the Opposition parties don’t always line up.
“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of conversation, in my mind, a lot of conversation between the groups. They’re government, and they make the decisions,” said O’Driscoll. “They’re making decisions, and they want you to come onboard.”
Playing hockey as long as he did, O’Drisocoll is used to seeing the rough stuff up, but said he is surprised to see it in the House of Assembly.
“The House is eye-opening, and sometimes disappointing, with the behaviour that goes on there,” he said. “You’re brought up to be respectable, and have your opinion and speak to it, but sometimes some of the stuff that goes ahead out there, like in the last few weeks, is a bit disappointing. Sometime there’s people there who seem to sit there and don’t even listen… Sometimes you’re talking to an empty room. I think it’s inconsiderate.”
That said, he hopes that with so many new MHAs on both sides of the House, there will be a change in House decorum over the coming year, or years, but acknowledges it gives the legislature, and it’s representatives, a bad image.
“I’m tarnished with that the same as the other 40 people. And some of those 40 people are not that way inclined, to be that controversial,” he said.
When talk turns to the economy, O’ Driscoll admitted one thing constantly thrown back in the face of the PC Party is the Muskrat Falls boondoggle.
“Every time we bring something up as a group (regarding the economy) in the House, they always bring back Muskrat Falls,” h said. “I wasn’t there for Muskrat Falls. I wasn’t a part of it… They did bring that in there’s no question about it, as a previous PC government, but we weren’t a part of that, or involved in any way, shape, or form. That gets thrown at us a lot. Hopefully we can make some good decisions along the way to boost the economy get it going. We need to make it local, and keep our Newfoundlanders here. That is certainly an issue we’ve seen along the way.”
As for speculation that Newfoundlanders could be heading back to the polls for another provincial election in 2020, O’Driscoll isn’t embracing it.
‘It’s not something that we as a party want to see, to go back to another election,” he said. “People don’t want it first of all. They tell us they don’t want it. And it’s a money cost for the province as well. People don’t want to go through another election. They just came off a federal election, and a provincial one as well. They don’t want to go back to another one in another year. It’s a lot of money, time, and effort.”
Unwanted, said O’Driscoll, but not impossible.
“If the parties can’t cooperate and get along, and pass some good legislation, maybe that can happen. We’ll see where that goes,” he said. “Our intention as a party is not to go to another election (this year).”
