Labrador MHA Lela Evans leaving the NDP to return to PC caucus

Torngat Mountains MHA Lela Evans has left the Newfoundland and Labrador NDP to rejoin the PC caucus. (Kyle Mooney/CBC)

Torngat Mountains MHA Lela Evans is leaving the Newfoundland and Labrador NDP caucus to rejoin the province's Official Opposition.

The move — announced at a news conference Tuesday morning at the provincial House of Assembly — is a return to the fold for Evans, who was first elected as a candidate for the PCs in 2019 and re-elected in 2021. Seven months after her re-election, she left the PC caucus to sit as an Independent before joining the NDP in March 2022.

Evans says her move to the PCs is about being under the leadership of Tony Wakeham, whom she called a friend and ally.

"I want to play a part in making sure that the province gets an opportunity to select a good government that could actually help the province, and right now I don't see that with the Furey government."

Wakeham said he remained friends with Evans since he was first elected in 2019.

"We share a common interest in what politics should be about," said Wakeham."It should be about people, not politicians."

Reconciliation

Evans said she is frustrated being under a Liberal government, "in the age of reconciliation."

Despite residential school survivors in Labrador receiving an apology from Furey, Evans said that all the issues she, the Nunatsiavut government, and the Innu Nation, have raised "have fallen on deaf ears."

"This is about me and what I feel in my heart, and what I feel is very important for the province," said Evans.

Evans also said she doesn't think politics should be involved in land claims.

"Groups should put forward their own history, their own documentation," said Evans, "I've stayed out of the politics of that, something like that is too important."

Back to the PCs

In 2021 Evans left the Tories, saying the party was not right for her and her district.

"I only ran as a MHA to help my district overcome the large gaps in services and infrastructure that continues to perpetuate the cycle of intergenerational trauma and disenfranchisement of my people," she said that the time.

But now, Evans said a lot has changed over the past two years, and that switching back to the PCs is the best way to serve her district.

"I've grown as a politician, I've grown as an advocate, and also I've seen the PC Party grow, and especially now under the leadership of Tony Wakeham," said Evans said Tuesday.

Evans also said the decision does not have to do with the leadership of the NDP, rather the NDP is not a party she can grow with.

"I guess my expectations were a bit different, but also I don't want to harm the party," said Evans. "There's a role for the NDP at the provincial level, it's just not with me."

Self-serving government

Evans said she sees the Liberal government as self-serving.

"It can be very disappointing when you look at, sometimes, individuals who were elected, who are now part of government [and] don't make decisions for the greater good or for the province," she said.

Evans said Wakeham is different.

"I think what we'll do is, if elected into government in this next election, I think you'll see good government for the first time in a long time," said Evans.

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