John Haggie says Liberals are already lining up to replace outgoing MHA John Abbott

The governing Liberals are trying to put a positive spin on the surprise resignation of cabinet minister John Abbott, saying potential successors are already showing an interest in St. John's East-Quidi Vidi.

"John is a great colleague and he will be missed," said John Haggie, minister of justice and public safety, and attorney general.

"But I take comfort from the fact that we have a very dynamic nominations process and there are people already keen to seek to run on our party platform."

Haggie also defended Abbott, saying the errors that have come to light from the 2021 election vote that saw Abbott defeat incumbent Alison Coffin of the NDP had nothing to do with Abbott.

"The fault was with Elections N.L. They have admitted that," said Haggie. "I think that has actually cleared the way to restore confidence in our system."

Dinn says the NDP was robbed

NDP Leader Jim Dinn, however, believes a settlement this week in the legal battle over the legitimacy of the result in St. John's East-Quidi Vidi is proof Coffin should have won the race.

And Dinn added that the Liberals should have acted earlier to remedy the situation.

"For the last four years, St. John's East-Quidi Vidi missed out on NDP representation and the fine NDP candidate," Dinn told reporters during a virtual interview on Thursday.

Dinn did not provide proof the outcome might have been different, but Elections N.L. has admitted there were irregularities and errors in a vote that saw first-time Liberal candidate John Abbott defeat Coffin, who was NDP leader at the time, by just 53 votes.

Coffin, supported by her party, launched a legal challenge that dragged on for years, and was scheduled to go to trial on Monday.

"Obviously there were enough irregularities that Allison would have been the representative, as simple as that," Dinn said.

Dinn and Haggie were reacting to a politically explosive day in Newfoundland and Labrador on Wednesday, when Abbott announced he will leave politics at the end of the summer, and Coffin described the out-of-court settlement as a win for democracy.

It was the latest fallout from a chaotic 2021 provincial general election that went off the rails after officials were forced to cancel in-person voting because of heightened public health restrictions amid a spike in COVID-19 infections.

Abbott said he agreed to step down in order to avoid a lengthy and costly trial. He also said a trial would have been "futile" since a provincial general election must be held before the middle of October. 

Abbott suggested an influx of evidence in recent months lowered his confidence that he would be successful in court.

"The probabilities of us winning, losing, were starting to switch," he said.

"If the Liberals figured they had a strong case, they would have followed through on it," Dinn said.

Coffin agreed to withdraw her court application in exchange for Abbott's decision to quit politics.

"If we do not get elections right, if we do not get democracy, then we don't get government right and we do not have a proper province," Coffin told reporters on Wednesday.

Abbott or his team have not been accused of any wrongdoing, but there's evidence that some voters had requested a mail-in ballot, but did not receive it. Abbott also said there were incidents of people voting in the wrong district, and using improper identification to apply for a ballot.

Elections N.L. released a statement saying there were "errors in the administration of some special ballots," and changes have been made to ensure future votes are "fair, impartial and in compliance with the law."

Both sides disagree on the extent to which the errors may have affected the election result, but Dinn believes there was enough evidence to warrant the seat being vacated a long time ago, and a byelection being held.

While he described Abbott's decision to resign as "honourable," Dinn accused the Liberals of dragging out the process in order to avoid an "embarrassing" trial.

"The Liberals expected to have had a general election long before now, which they hoped would have rendered this court case moot," said Dinn.

Opposition House leader and Conception Bay South PC MHA Barry Petten also blamed the Liberals for the turmoil. He said the 2021 election should never have been held during a pandemic, that his calls for an independent investigation into the election results were dismissed by the Liberals, and that subsequent attempts at electoral reform have failed.

Petten said Premier John Hogan could have done more to restore confidence in the electoral system during his tenure as justice minister and attorney general, and said Hogan "owes an explanation. He was head of this electoral reform committee that went nowhere."

Petten also questioned why Abbott agreed to quit politics.

"I wouldn't just walk away if I was innocent," said Petten.

Haggie, meanwhile, fired back on the issue of electoral reform. He said Hogan supported the establishment of an all-party committee on election reform, but it collapsed after representatives from opposition parties dropped out.

"We were paralyzed," said Haggie. "We wanted to have input and consultations and cross-party discussions, but the parties didn't turn up."

Haggie added that he would be "delighted" to reconvene the all-party committee.

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