Economic security is top of mind in St. John's East. These candidates say they'll earn it

One of the most densely populated ridings in Newfoundland and Labrador is home to an array of contenders for the job in Ottawa.

Five campaigns are ongoing in the region that encompasses downtown St. John's, Torbay and Portugal Cove-St. Phillips, where Liberal incumbent Joanne Thompson is fighting to keep her seat.

CBC News is profiling each of the province's seven ridings in the leadup to election day on April 28.

Here are the choices for St. John's East:

Joanne Thompson, Liberal Party

Joanne Thompson won the riding in 2021, and recently served as fisheries minister. 

A nurse-turned-entrepreneur, she told CBC News she's fought through several economic downturns, building her business with her husband from scratch.

Her work on the trail so far has revealed that constituents want a strong leader, she said, someone who understands economics and who's able to build strong trading relationships around the world.

"There's no doubt that the politics and the reality of [U.S. President Donald] Trump … has cast a long shadow over Canada," Thompson said. 

Thompson says the former prime minister invested heavily in Newfoundland and Labrador, but a new era, and new threats, mean she's looking for other characteristics in a Liberal government.

"The reality is that Mark Carney is a different leader than Justin Trudeau," she said.

"Mark Carney, in this moment, is the person that I feel has the knowledge, the experience and the leadership to really direct this province, this country, through a turbulent period of four years."

David Brazil, Conservative Party

Once the interim provincial Tory leader, David Brazil stepped into the federal ring last year, after more than a decade as the MHA for Conception Bay East-Bell Island.

"I've been around," Brazil said. "I'm a no-nonsense politician … you ask me a question, I'll give you an honest answer. You may not like the answer, but my mother used to always say if it's an honest one, it's the right one."

Brazil has a progressive approach, he says, and thinks government should build "programs and services that provide for everybody."

"My objective is if I get to Ottawa, I'm going to be there to fight for the people of this province."

Economic security is top of mind for constituents in St. John's East at the moment, he added, according to what he's hearing at the doors. 

"One of the objectives here should be … giving people an opportunity [to do] an honest day's work, get an honest day's pay and know that they have the services they need in a time of challenge," he said.

"If we can drive our economy, prioritize what our social programs have to be and make sure that we implement them in the best way, [then] we get the return on the investment, but more importantly, people get quicker access to those services."

Brazil says he's seeing a disparity between the wealth Newfoundland and Labrador produces and the benefits people receive.

"We should be doing much better than we are. We should have access to programs and services because the economy is being driven by us having control of our own assets. When we do that, we can provide services for every sector of our society," he said.  

Mary Shortall, New Democratic Party

Mary Shortall, born and raised in the riding she's now running to represent, has a long history of labour leadership, serving as the president of the Newfoundland Labrador Federation of Labour for nearly a decade before becoming president of the federal NDP.

She says she became an active union member during her first job with Air Canada, and spent the next four decades fighting for workers' rights.

She ran against incumbent Thompson in 2021, capturing about a third of the total vote.

"The issues really haven't changed," Shortall said. "Sometimes the panic around them or the tone changes, but the issues haven't. And the No. 1 issue, no matter which door I knock on, is affordability."

She says she's also hearing frustrations from constituents so fed up with a system wearing them down that they don't want to vote at all. It's in those conversations Shortall catches a glimpse of the wide range of struggles facing the region, she says.

"It's no wonder people feel sometimes like their politicians don't speak on their behalf, because those issues are mostly to do with trying to make ends meet," she said.

"It's from using food banks for the very first time, [to] calling in sick to go to work because you can't afford the gas, you know, to being evicted from their apartment because the big corporate owner wants to raise the rent."

Shortall also says constituents have fond memories of former NDP MP Jack Harris, who served prior to Thompson.

"Without exception, they all say they felt that somebody had their back, that somebody spoke on their behalf," she said.

Otis Crandell, Green Party and Sam Crete, Communist Party

Otis Crandell, an earth sciences researcher at Memorial University, says disillusionment with the federal government, and a lack of planning for future generations, pushed him into this campaign.

"The climate problem is not something we can solve in four years. We need to put in play long-term solutions," Crandell said.

"I want the problem solved. I don't care if I get credit for it. You know, it's like … if you're on a sinking ship and you want to be the one to say, 'hey, I'm the one that stuck my finger in the hole.'"

Communist Party candidate Sam Crete says housing affordability and homelessness is a policy problem that their party knows how to solve.

"There's a lot of things you just can't throw money at ... and the problem will disappear," Crete, an educator and activist, told CBC News.

"But with homelessness, it actually is that simple. You can just build homes. It's not really that complicated."

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