Tom Osborne (born 1964) is a politician in

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He represents the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Waterford Valley Waterford Valley is a provincial electoral district in Newfoundland and Labrador, which is represented by one member in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. It was contested for the first time in the 2015 provincial election. It wa ...

in the

Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is the Unicameralism, unicameral deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It meets in the Confederation Build ...

. He is a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, a former member of the Progressive Conservative Party, and a former Minister in Danny Williams' first cabinet. He is currently Minister of Health and Community Services in the Furey government. Osborne is the province's longest consecutively-serving MHA having been in the House of Assembly since 1996.

Politics

Prior to entering politics Osborne worked for

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Small Business Enterprise, and with the Penney Group of Companies. He is the son of former MHA

Sheila Osborne Sheila Osborne is a Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. She represented the district of St. John's West in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is the unicamera ...

Opposition

Osborne was first elected to the

in the 1996 provincial election in the

of St. John's South. The election resulted in a landslide victory for Brian Tobin's Liberals and Osborne was one of only nine Progressive Conservatives elected. Osborne was re-elected in the 1999 election and though the PC's had gained 5 seats the Liberals still won a large majority government.

In government

With the victory of the Progressive Conservatives in the 2003 election Premier Danny Williams appointed Osborne to Cabinet as the Minister responsible for Environment and Labour. On February 20, 2004 Government announced a restructuring of departments, which saw the creation of the new Department of Environment and Conservation, which Osborne remained minister of. On March 14, 2006, Osborne became Minister of Health and Community Services succeeding

John Ottenheimer John Ottenheimer (born 1953) is a Canadian lawyer and politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Ottenheimer is a former Cabinet minister in the government of Danny Williams and represented the district of St. John's East for the Progre ...

. During his time as Minister of Health more information on errors in hormone receptor breast cancer testing were coming to light. The errors eventually led to the Commission of Inquiry on Hormone Receptor Testing. In January 2007, with the announcement that several cabinet Ministers would not be seeking re-election in that October's

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Williams shuffled his Cabinet. Osborne was assigned the Justice portfolio taking over for

Paul Shelley Paul Shelley (born Paul Matthews; 15 May 1942) is an English actor. Shelley was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, and trained at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art). Since then he has mainly worked in the theatre as a classical actor. ...

who was retiring from politics in October. With the re-election of the Progressive Conservatives in 2007, Osborne was replaced as Justice Minister by

Jerome Kennedy Jerome Kennedy KC, , (born 10 July 1960) is a Canadian lawyer and politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, who served in the cabinets of Premier Kathy Dunderdale and Danny Williams. Kennedy was elected in 2007, as the Member of the House ...

. Williams announced he would be nominating Osborne to serve as Deputy Chair of Committees in the House of Assembly and On November 1, 2007, he was confirmed to serve as Deputy Chair of Committees in the House of Assembly. In 2008, Osborne testified at the Commission of Inquiry on Hormone Receptor Testing and was asked about his time as Minister of Health.

Opposition

In September 2012, Osborne resigned from the Progressive Conservative party citing the leadership of Premier

Kathy Dunderdale Kathleen Mary Margaret "Kathy" Dunderdale (née Warren; born February 1952) is a politician and former MHA who served as the tenth premier of Newfoundland and Labrador from December 3, 2010, to January 24, 2014. Dunderdale was born and raised in ...

and began sitting as an Independent. On August 29, 2013, Osborne joined the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ball and Furey governments (2015-present)

In the 2015 election the Liberal Party won control of the House of Assembly and Osborne was chosen as Speaker. Following the resignation of Cathy Bennett, Osborne was appointed Minister of Finance in the Ball government on July 31, 2017. He was re-elected in the 2019 provincial election. On August 19, 2020, he was appointed Minister of Education in the Furey government. He was re-elected in the 2021 provincial election. On July 6, 2022, he was appointed Minister of Health and Community Services.

Electoral record

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NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

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Alison Coffin Alison Coffin (born 1970) is a Canadian politician, who was formerly the leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party (NL NDP). She is a former member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. In her professional life, ...

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Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

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References

External links