For a populace that generally thrives on the blood sport of politics, the past five years had been lean indeed in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ever since Danny Williams won the provincial government in a highly predictable landslide in 2003, there has been little in the way of red meat to feed the public’s appetite for political blood. There have been spurts of scandal, of course, most notably the laying of criminal charges against four former members of the House of Assembly in 2006. But they’ve all resigned from politics and the court cases are grinding forward at glacial speed — so people have pretty well lost interest.

Then there was Danny’s ritual torturing of John Efford, the province’s representative in Paul Martin’s ill-fated federal government. Efford, who was himself a graduate of the “take no prisoners” school of thought, made the mistake of defending Martin when the former prime minister tried to wriggle out of a commitment to make the province the primary beneficiary of offshore oil royalties. Danny yanked the Canadian flag down from all provincial government buildings in 2005, and browbeat Liberal MPs from Newfoundland and Labrador until Martin caved.

This was all fine entertainment for a few short weeks, but Efford soon left politics, and both Danny and the public were left without a caged animal to poke and laugh at. Ennui and despair set in — a condition not at all leavened by the provincial election of 2007, when the Tories won all but three of the 48 seats.

Fortunately, relief was at hand in the body of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his trio of MPs from Canada’s youngest province. Like Martin, Harper seemed to retreat from a key commitment, this time to leave oil revenues out of the formula for calculating equalization payments to so-called “have-not” provinces. The three MPs, all of whom had gleefully jumped aboard the Williams Attack Squad when Efford was the target, suddenly found themselves facing Danny’s wrath. And they did not like it — not one bit.

They tried explaining away the alleged betrayal, which only made them seem like hypocrites. Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn became spiteful, and responded by lobbing accusations back at Danny. When this didn’t work, Hearn charged that Danny governs like a dictator — this from a minister whose boss is widely criticized for being a control freak.

Then came the election, and both Hearn and St. John’s East MP Norm Doyle opted to retire rather than face a political stoning. What fun those four weeks proved to be, as Tories beat up on Tories, and provincial cabinet ministers proclaimed their undying love for federal Liberal and NDP candidates.

The most entertaining moments came from the hapless Conservative candidate for St. John’s East, Craig Westcott. A journalist, Westcott had become a harsh critic of Danny, and Westcott’s decision to run was widely seen as a personal vendetta against the premier. Westcott claimed otherwise, however, and said that his decision came as an epiphany: interviewing Doyle for a news article, Westcott suddenly realized that he, himself, should be the Conservative candidate.

Then there was the Conservative candidate for St. John’s South Mount Pearl, Merv Wiseman, who drove around in a van with his name emblazoned in huge letters across the doors — not an uncommon practice, but most candidates would make sure their names were spelled correctly.

What the results of this election will mean to the voters of Newfoundland and Labrador is far from certain. But the new MPs had better beware: one false move, and today’s hero could easily become Danny’s next victim. IE