Newfoundland and Labrador

C

Other Places to Visit

At the top of Signal Hill is Cabot Tower, which was built in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot’s first voyage to the region. The site where Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland for Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1583 is marked by a memorial in St. John’s. A monument at Cupids, a site along Conception Bay, marks the colony founded there in 1610 by John Guy. Other famous sites include Ferryland, where Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland, established a colony in the 1620s; Placentia, in Placentia Bay, the old French capital; and Carbonear Island, which defied all French attempts to capture it in the 17th and 18th centuries.

VII

Government

From 1855 to 1934 Newfoundland was a British colony governed by a locally elected legislature. In 1934, amid the great hardship wrought by the global economic depression, the British government suspended Newfoundland’s local self-government to take administrative and financial responsibility for the colony. Until 1949 the colony was governed by a commission headed by a British governor. Self-government was restored in 1949 when Newfoundland and Labrador joined the Canadian federation as a province.

A

National Representation

Newfoundland and Labrador is represented in the Canadian Parliament by seven elected representatives in the House of Commons and five senators appointed by the federal government to the Senate. By tradition, at least one member of Parliament from the province is appointed to the national cabinet.

B

Executive

The lieutenant governor, appointed by the federal government, is the nominal head of the provincial government. However, real power rests with the premier and cabinet. The premier is the leader of the majority party or coalition in the provincial legislature. Members of the cabinet are appointed by the premier from among the members of the legislature to oversee the various government departments.

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C

Legislative

The unicameral provincial legislature of 48 members is called the House of Assembly. Elections must be held every five years but may be called sooner. The assembly holds one session a year, beginning in spring and ending in fall, with a break for summer.

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