National Network for Equitable Library Service

Before he walked onto the political stage, Norman Doyle grew up in Avondale, Conception Bay, in a family of nine children. He followed in his father’s footsteps and made his way to New York City, where he found employment as an ironworker on the site of the World Trade Center. Later, he returned home, where his political aspirations took root. Inspired by the fiery speeches of Brian Peckford, and with the encouragement of the local ironworkers, Norman threw his hat in the ring and was elected to the House of Assembly in 1979. “Norm,” as he is affectionately known in his home province, left provincial politics in 1993 and later joined the House of Commons when he was elected as the Member of Parliament for St. John’s East in 1997. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2012, the latest of many achievements in a long and illustrious political career. During his years on Confederation Hill (St. John’s) and Parliament Hill (Ottawa), Norm worked alongside other political heavyweights in the Progressive Conservative Party, and later the Conservative Party of Canada: Brian Peckford, Gerry Ottenheimer, Bill Marshall, Danny Williams, Loyola Hearn, Peter MacKay, Joe Clark, Jean Charest, and Stephen Harper. In According to Doyle, Senator Norman Doyle gives us a front-row seat to some of the greatest political battles ever fought for province and country—some which pitted Newfoundland and Labrador against Canada and put him in the difficult position of having to serve two masters at the same time.