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Peter Penashue launches campaign, has 'zero interest' in opposition

Labrador: Could a traditional Liberal seat break with tradition again?

Former cabinet minister Peter Penashue announced Friday morning he is officially the Conservative candidate for Labrador in the upcoming federal election.

News slipped Thursday that Penashue would be on the ticket for the Conservatives when his name appeared on the party's website. It was later confirmed by party sources.

Penashue quit politics in 2013 after allegations surfaced of irregularities in spending for his 2011 campaign.

When asked if he thought the spending controversy would hurt his election bid, Penashue said Friday he believes people in Labrador are ready to move on.

"This has been discussed 10,000 different times and in different ways and I think people are starting to get sick of it," he said.

Reg Bowers, who managed Penashue's 2011 campaign, has been charged with three counts of breaching the Canada Elections Act, relating to allegations the campaign took illegal contributions.

According to Penashue, Bowers had taken on two roles in the 2011 campaign because they had started from the ground up with "zero dollars."

"I think one thing lead to another because after a while the campaign picked up. More and more people showed up and more and more people were interested in what we were doing," he said.

"I feel terrible that Reg got himself in that trouble."

'No interest' in being opposition

Penashue resigned his seat 2013 and ran in a May byelection, which he lost to Liberal Yvonne Jones.

According to Penashue, he doesn't intend to sit in an opposition seat.

"I have no interest, zero interest, in being in the opposition. Why? Because there is nothing to be accomplished, there is nothing that would benefit Labradorians," he said.

"I'm interested in being with the Conservative government, being right in government where I can have influence."

Penashue said he doesn't know what he will do if he wins a seat and the Conservatives don't form the government. He said he will "cross that bridge" if he comes to it.

"I think Labradorians are smart and they're very strategic and they made me pay in 2013 for my sins and now I think it's going to be different," he said.

In an email, Jones said Penashue's announcement illustrates a tired Conservative party struggling to find support in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"The Harper Conservatives can't be trusted. They're so desperate in Newfoundland and Labrador that they will take back a discredited candidate who is at the centre of yet another Harper Conservative scandal," Jones wrote.

Penashue is one of three candidates in Newfoundland and Labrador listed on the Conservative Party's website.