ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Expectations weren’t exactly high when Kathy Dunderdale became the hand-picked replacement for one of the most popular premiers Canada has ever seen.
“One of the greatest challenges is going to be that I’m not Danny Williams,” she said last December as her force-of-nature boss suddenly quit politics in Newfoundland and Labrador to resume his business career.
“However, I’m confident that I’ll make my own mark.”
Those last words turned out to be prescient. All recent polls signal that Dunderdale, 59, is set to make history Tuesday, becoming the first woman elected to the province’s top political job.
It would be a sweet triumph for the daughter of a Burin Peninsula fisherman, one of 11 children, who was only supposed to lead the Progressive Conservatives until an heir apparent stepped up to fill the chasm Williams left.
No one did. Dunderdale declared within weeks that, with the backing of her cabinet and caucus, she would run for the leadership.
She was crowned unchallenged last spring at a Tory convention that was to include a tribute dinner for Williams. He skipped the event in what was the first of a few perceived snipes at his successor for reasons that haven’t been publicly clarified.
Williams has cryptically referred to a distancing of the Dunderdale administration from him, but little else.
Dunderdale has refused to discuss the subject. She made it clear when the campaign started three weeks ago, however, that she would not be seeking help from Williams on the hustings.
Nor has she appeared to need it. Dunderdale could hardly have seemed more the relaxed frontrunner on Saturday as she boarded her big blue campaign bus for one last trip to shore up Tory support outside St. John’s.
The mother of two and grandmother of four cuts a svelte, confident figure these days. She is about 100 pounds lighter than she was a year ago after becoming a committed early-morning runner who shuns refined sugars in favour of fruits, non-starchy vegetables and wild rice.
During a speech to party faithful in what could be a tight race in the riding of Port de Grave, Dunderdale spoke without notes as she has in districts around the province. During stops at Tim Hortons, a grocery store and a shopping mall, she glad-handed with the assurance of someone at ease in her own skin.
Dunderdale has been in some heated exchanges with voters upset over issues ranging from the struggling fishery to construction jobs. But the former natural resources minister who took part in notoriously tough talks with Big Oil on multibillion-dollar projects off Newfoundland did not flinch or lose her cool.
Still, Dunderdale says she must clear the hurdle of Tuesday’s election to validate her leadership and set what she hopes will be an eight-year course as premier.
“I’ve been supported by the cabinet and the caucus. I’ve been supported by the people within our party. But the real legitimacy comes from the people of the province, and that’s the test I need to pass on Tuesday.”