May 5, 1989 was a Friday.
It only took the couple of weeks
between the election on April 20 that year and May 5 for the government to
change hands between political parties for only the second time since
Confederation. The House met before the end of the month was out and before that first session ended, the province had a new budget.
Clyde Wells was the fifth Premier after Confederation. He was preceded by Joe Smallwood, Frank Moores, Brian Peckford, and Tom Rideout.
In the first 40 years after confederation, we had five Premiers. Since 1999 - that is, in less than 20 years - we have had eight Premiers. Dwight Ball is number 13 in the line, the majority of whom since 1999 have served for four years or less. We might have a fourteenth, depending on how events turn out.
The habit after 2003 has been for a majority party elected in the fall to wait upwards of six months before opening the legislature. The initial excuse was that there was a work to do in getting ready for the House. In 2007 and 2011, the government was re-elected and did the same thing.
This is the official portrait of the cabinet sworn in May 1989 by Lieutenant Governor Jim McGrath. The photo is courtesy of Rex Gibbons,
who you can see standing on the extreme left. The photographer was Don Lane.
It was a relatively small cabinet at 15. The cabinets
immediately before it had had upwards of 23 members. It was also a fairly
well-educated cabinet: three of the people around the table had doctoral
degrees (two in education and one in geology). There were a couple of lawyers,
some teachers, business owners, and folks like Walter Carter who had spent all
of his working life in elected public service.
Most of them carried on in cabinet for a while after or in
the House and later still went back to their old careers or took on new
adventures. Five of the members of that cabinet have passed away since.
The ministry consisted of:
Standing (left to right)
- Rex Gibbons, Mines and Energy
- Eric Gullage, Municipal and Provincial Affairs
- Walter Carter, Fisheries
- Chuck Furey, Development (after 1992 - Industry, Trade, and Technology)
- Dave Gilbert, Works, Services, and Transportation
- Jim Kelland, Environment
- Paul Dicks, Justice, Attorney General
- Chris Decker, Health
- Herb Kitchen, Finance
Seated (left to right)
- Graham Flight, Forestry and Agriculture
- Patt Cowan, Employment and Labour Relations
- Clyde Wells, Premier, Intergovernmental Affairs
- His Honour, James McGrath, Lieutenant Governor
- Winston Baker, President of the Executive Council, President of Treasury Board
- John Efford, Social Services
- Phil Warren, Education
-srbp-
Corrected name of Furey's portfolio, 09 May 2018)