No ‘Anything But Conservative’ campaign, but Tories struggle in Newfoundland

<p>ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Conservatives in Newfoundland and Labrador who had hoped to gain electoral ground after being shut out of the province in 2008 had to settle for a toehold in Monday’s federal election. </p> <p>All but one of seven Conservative candidates were easily defeated, and it was a surprise squeaker of a victory in Labrador for Tory candidate Peter Penashue over the incumbent Liberal Todd Russell.</p> <p>Among the high-profile Tory hopefuls who lost were former Conservative senator Fabian Manning and former fisheries ambassador Loyola Sullivan.</p> <p>Disappointed Tory organizers referred to an “Anyone But Conservative” hangover from the campaign waged during the last election by former premier Danny Williams.</p> <p>The NDP had a major breakthrough as Ryan Cleary defeated Liberal Siobhan Coady in St. John’s South-Mount Pearl.</p> <p>The Liberals elected four members to the House of Commons, while the NDP elected two.</p> <p>Loyola Sullivan, one of a slate of former provincial Tory ministers who ran this time, lost to Cleary. He said the voter is always right and took full blame for the outcome.</p> <p>”Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” he said.</p> <p>”I felt so strongly that we should have a representative from Newfoundland and Labrador in the government of Canada,” he told reporters.</p> <p>”I don’t think our best interests get served with nobody there.”</p> <p>Williams’s ABC wrath over equalization cost the Conservatives three seats in the province in 2008, sending six Liberals and one New Democrat to Ottawa.</p> <p>But in this campaign, Williams kept a low profile and declined requests for interviews, even on Monday’s results.</p> <p>By contrast, Premier Kathy Dunderdale and her Tories openly backed Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in this campaign, particularly after he backed a loan guarantee, or an equivalent, for the $6.2-billion Lower Churchill hydroelectric megaproject in Labrador.</p> <p>Despite picking up the seat in Labrador, the Conservatives were third in the popular vote in Newfoundland and Labrador at 28 per cent with almost all polls reporting final results. The Liberals received 38 per cent of the vote and the NDP had 33 per cent.</p> <p>Christopher Dunn, a political scientist at Memorial University in St. John’s, said the lingering ABC effect was a costly undermining of trust in Harper.</p> <p>”I think the ABC campaign created a hole for the Conservatives which they found hard to crawl out of.”</p> <p>That reality combined with the rise of the federal New Democrats and traditional voting patterns spelled defeat for hopeful Conservatives, Dunn said in an interview.</p> <p>”It was a perfect storm of electoral effects making themselves felt in the province.”</p> <p>Harper warned voters during his second visit that the loan promise worth hundreds of millions of dollars would evaporate unless he won a majority government.</p> <p>Political rivals accused Dunderdale of “selling out” for the Lower Churchill pledge without getting any federal help for the struggling fishery or other sectors.</p> <p>Liberal and NDP candidates hit open-line radio shows to cast Harper as an opportunist who breaks his word.</p> <p>”It’s disappointing,” said Keith Coombs, Sullivan’s campaign manager.</p> <p>”We had a huge battle on our hands. Originally it was the anti-Harper sentiment, and then it ended up, of course, with the NDP surge.”</p> <p>Penashue will be a novice MP with a long track record in aboriginal politics. He was elected deputy grand chief of the Innu Nation in Sheshatshiu in 2007 but decided to step down last year.</p> <p>He also served as president of the Labrador Innu Nation where he helped negotiate a lucrative compensation deal for benefits and jobs with the Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company.</p> <p>Penashue is also a vocal supporter of the Lower Churchill hydroelectric megaproject in Labrador, despite the equally vocal protest of some Innu people – including his activist mother, Elizabeth Penashue. </p>