28 Facts About Dwight Ball

Dwight Ball was born on 21 December 1957 and is a Canadian politician who was the 13th premier of Newfoundland and Labrador from 14 December 2015, to 19 August 2020, and an MHA.

Dwight Ball represented the electoral district of Humber Valley in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly, and was the leader of the Liberal Party from 17 November 2013 to 3 August 2020.

On 3 January 2012, Ball began his duties as Leader of the Official Opposition and interim leader of the Liberal Party.

On 5 July 2013, Dwight Ball stepped down as interim leader of the Liberal Party to run for the position permanently in the 2013 leadership election, which he won.

On 30 November 2015, Dwight Ball won a 31-seat majority government in the 2015 election.

The Dwight Ball government was re-elected to a minority government in 2019.

Dwight Ball was raised in Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador, and graduated from Elwood Regional High School.

Dwight Ball attended Memorial University when he was 17 years old.

Dwight Ball was the recipient of the Bowl of Hygeia Award for his work as a community pharmacist that began with his franchising of the Deer Lake Pharmacy.

Dwight Ball is the owner of several senior care homes and is involved in real estate development and venture capital investments.

Dwight Ball was the Liberal candidate in the district of Humber Valley in the 2003 provincial election, but was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Kathy Goudie by less than 200 votes.

When Goudie resigned from the legislature, Dwight Ball ran in a by-election to succeed her on 13 February 2007.

At first, it was announced that Progressive Conservative candidate Darryl Kelly had won the by-election by a margin of twelve votes; however, Dwight Ball was later declared elected by a margin of 18 votes.

Four years later Dwight Ball ran as the Liberal candidate in the 2011 election and this time narrowly defeated Kelly by 68 votes.

At a press conference on 15 December 2011, the Liberal Party announced that Dwight Ball would serve as interim leader of the party and as the Leader of the Official Opposition, effective 3 January 2012.

Dwight Ball succeeds Kevin Aylward, who failed to win a seat in the general election, as leader of the Liberal Party and Yvonne Jones as the Official Opposition Leader.

Dwight Ball announced on the same day that he planned to run for the permanent leadership of the party at the next leadership convention, and that he would step down as interim leader 90 days before the convention to even the playing field for other candidates.

Dwight Ball served as leader for the party in the 2015 general election.

Dwight Ball was sworn in as Premier on 14 December 2015, after leading the Liberal Party to win 31 of 40 seats in the House of Assembly in the election in November.

On 17 February 2020, Premier Dwight Ball announced his resignation as Premier and Leader of the Liberal Party.

On 3 August 2020, Andrew Furey was chosen to succeed Dwight Ball after winning the provincial Liberal leadership race.

Dwight Ball took over the post of Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs from PC Keith Russell after the election in 2015.

In 2017, Premier Dwight Ball called a public inquiry into the Muskrat Falls project which took place between 2018 and 2020.

Dwight Ball has blamed the governments of Danny Williams and Kathy Dunderdale for the number of problems that the project has caused.

Dwight Ball later said wetland capping would have only decreased methylmercury levels by two per cent.

On 17 February 2020, Dwight Ball announced his pending resignation as leader of the Liberal Party and Premier amidst accusations of cronyism.

The decision came after CBC News linked Dwight Ball to awarding the sole-source contract for the Crown corporation Nalcor Energy to Gordon McIntosh, former Deputy of Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady and the designer of Newfoundland and Labrador's off-shore energy plan.

On 7 September 2020 Dwight Ball resigned as MHA for Humber-Gros Morne.