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Marg Princess Warrior asks voters to ‘bring change’ in election

From Marg Delahunty, to Rob Ford and a ranting Rick Mercer here are some hilarious moments from 22 Minutes's 22 years.

Newfoundland comedian Mary Walsh is throwing her hat into the “Anybody But Conservative” ring. A new video and fundraising campaign featuring her “22 Minutes” character Marg Delahunty asking Canadians to vote against “Stevil” on Oct. 19.

Walsh-as-Delahunty paid a visit to historic Quidi Vidi Village in St. John’s to satirically show her support for Stephen Harper, whom she also refers to as “Stasi Steve” and “Herr Harper.”

“Give the poor Crime Minister the chance he so desperately needs to stop all his relentless, exhausting fear mongering and panic pushing and terrifying the Canadian citizenry into a frenzy of dread about the terror threat,” she says in the video, “even though it’s already been proven that more Canadians are in danger of being struck by a moose than are ever in danger of being struck by a terrorist.”

On her website Marg Brings Change, visitors can click the virtual penny to donate towards charitable causes for Syrian refugees. Walsh herself will add to the donations.

Walsh is the latest provincial personality to advocate for a change of government later this month. St. John’s band Hey Rosetta! released a music video earlier this month with Yukon Blonde. Actor Gordon Pinsent is featured in a pro-NDP video. And former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams said in recent interviews with CTV and CBC that Harper is not to be trusted, advocating that voters simply stay home if they can’t vote for a party other than the Conservatives.

But it’s likely that Walsh, William and the others don’t have to worry about the federal Conservative Party getting many votes in Canada’s youngest province. They haven’t fared well in the province since Williams launched his “Anything But Conservative” campaign during the 2008 election.

The then-premier asked Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to vote for any other federal party, saying that Harper had broken promises made to the province regarding oil revenues and equalization payments. In that election, the Tories won no seats in the province and got only 16.5 per cent of the vote, compared to their national average of 37.6 per cent.

Williams had left office by the time of the 2011 federal election, but the Conservative Party didn’t fare much better. They won just one of the province’s seven seats — losing it again to the Liberals in a 2013 byelection — and their vote percentage of 28.4 per cent was still below their national average of 39.6 per cent.

Delahunty’s campaign isn’t her first swipe at the leader of the Conservative Party. Though she kissed him on the lips when he won party leadership in 2004, she later resurrected her famous character in 2008 to lead a bonfire of sweater vests in protest of Harper, calling him an “iceberg of a Prime Minister.”