Harper had no effect on loss: Sullivan
Two star Tory candidates who quit high-profile political jobs for what turned out to be losing bids in Monday's election say they don't regret their decisions.
As well, Loyola Sullivan — who quit his post as Canada's fisheries ambassador, only to place third in St. John's South-Mount Pearl — said local antipathy toward Conservative Leader Stephen Harper didn't play a role in his loss.
"I take full responsibility in this campaign," Sullivan, a former Newfoundland and Labrador finance minister, said Monday night.
"I think people knew me, I worked hard in the provincial scene and they knew that, and they decided to choose somebody else and I accept that," said Sullivan, who trailed both NDP victor Ryan Cleary and defeated Liberal incumbent Siobhan Coady.
The Conservatives won only one seat in the province, with veteran Innu leader Peter Penashue pulling an upset victory in the traditional Liberal stronghold of Labrador. His win is only the second time Labrador voters have selected someone other than a Liberal.
But the results on the island were disappointing to the Conservative party, which launched an ambitious campaign with the blessing of Premier Kathy Dunderdale, who supported Stephen Harper after he committed to back a loan guarantee for the Lower Churchill hydro project.
Fabian Manning, who quit his spot in the Senate in a failed bid to take back his old seat of Avalon, said lingering effects of 2008's "anything but Conservative" campaign were still in the air.
"We ran into that during the campaign," said Manning, who lost in a tight race to Liberal incumbent Scott Andrews, in a rematch of the 2008 race.
"We didn't run into as much as we did during the last campaign, but we ran into some of that during the campaign. But, you know, as I said, people make a choice."
The Conservative slate also included former provincial cabinet ministers John Ottenheimer and Trevor Taylor, who lost in Random-Burin-St. George's and Humber-Baie Verte-St. Barbe, respectively.
Taylor, a former provincial fisheries minister, said Tuesday that he was not surprised he could not defeat long-serving incumbent Gerry Byrne in the western Newfoundland riding.
"I knew we had an uphill battle [in] one of the strongest Liberal seats in the country," he told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.
Taylor said the province "would have been far better served if we had had another two or three [who] could carry Newfoundland's ball." Taylor said, though, that he believes Harper will uphold the party's Lower Churchill commitment.
Manning would not discuss his future on Monday night, but said he has received offers in the private sector.
Sullivan said he does not know what he will do next.
