By Tyler Waugh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Mount Pearl North MHA Lucy Stoyles celebrated 30 years of public office recently with an event that saw her surrounded by longtime supporters, friends, family and neighbours.
The veteran municipal and provincial politician stayed on her feet most of the night, since the point of the event wasn’t to celebrate her, but rather for her to celebrate those who have had her back for the past three decades.
“It was a great night. People that have been there for me … the people on my street, my church community … it was wonderful to have so many of them there,” Stoyles said. “I had no intention of going into politics originally, I was just active in the community. But when I did decide, these were the people I counted on the most.”
Stoyles spent a lot of her pre-political life helping children with learning disabilities. Her first foray into the political arena saw her defeated by a small margin of votes for a seat on Mount Pearl City Council. She bounced back to win a by-election two and a half years later that started a run of 25 years on council.
“It was a lesson learned, I knew that every vote counts. After that I would be out knocking on doors every year,” Stoyles said, adding the door knocking led to another valuable lesson.
“People just want to be listened to and be heard,” Stoyles said. “You have to listen to people, that’s what it’s all about.”
That’s something she prided herself on at council, as well as accessibility – she always gets back to people, she said.
Near the end of her run on city council, Stoyles turned her attention to provincial politics, eventually winning as the Liberal candidate in Mount Pearl North in the February 2021 election.
“If I was ever going to take a chance, then was the time. And I loved politics,” she recalled.
One of her first missions in provincial office was to lobby for changes to payday loans and other high-interest lending, which resulted in new rules that cut fees and interest considerably.
Another mission, albeit one with a personal connection, was to lobby for moose fencing after her daughter was injured in a collision with a moose on the highway. Stoyles was happy to see more moose fencing in the recent provincial budget.
Another initiative dear to her heart, Stoyles said, was increasing the housing subsidy for low-income seniors, which helped some 1,500 individuals get another $300 per month that year.
Stoyles was re-elected in September 2025 but said she hasn’t put much thought into whether she will seek re-election next time around.
“A lot can happen between now and then. I love it, but I am getting older and there is family to think about. You never know,” she said.