Crosbie breaks silence, backtracking from fiery speech on election night

In his first media appearance since election night, PC Leader Ches Crosbie backed off explosive comments six days ago, whenhe refused to concede to the Liberals.

"We are all only human, and I intend to revert to my normal, statesmanlike composure," said Crosbieon Wednesday afternoon.

"My remarks on Thursday night failed to express the achievements of the party, the PC Party, in an appropriate way and congratulate the many candidates and volunteers for bringing us this far," he said.

Without apologizing to the public, Crosbiesaid,"It was unfortunate.I should have been more gracious,"adding he realized his "misstep" later and "other people brought it to my attention."

Asmembers of his caucus stood behind him in St. John's, Crosbiethanked the people "who played a role in rebuilding the PC Party."

Asked if alcohol consumption affected his behaviour election night, he said,"It was purely a matter of the passion of the moment, the heat of the election campaign, and the unclarity of the outcome."

Delayed concession?

"Technically, legally and constitutionally, for Mr. Ball to have a government, he needs to meet the legislature within a reasonably short period of time, and face a vote of confidence," said Crosbie when asked if he was nowconceding.

"We're committed to making the government work," Crosbie continued, a much different tone from Thursday, when he vowedDwight Ball would not be in power within a year.

"The people of the province are not interested in an election any time soon," said Crosbie, so the PCs will work with all members of the House of Assembly to ensure "the business of the province is carried on."

It's too early to tell if that will include forming alliances with the three NDPMHAs and two Independent members.

Crosbie told reporters any perceived delay in addressing the media and a hastily called and cancelled news conference Friday were simply because it was best to meet with caucus beforehand andtake a "cooling-off period."

"Iissued a statement Friday correcting my omissions," and called Ball on Saturday "with my congratulations and my offer of co-operation," he said.

As for his election night attack onLt.-Gov. Judy Foote's constitutional duty to be non-partisan, Crosbie took a decidedly different tone on that as well.

"Life goes on, and I'm sure that if she observes that constitutional requirement in the future, matters will progress."

Crosbie noted that when he became leader one year ago, the PCs had their lowest number of seats in 50 years and now they have doubled. Crosbie added they did that earning 42.3 per cent of the total 215,000 votes cast, with just a 1.3 percentage-pointdifference in the popular vote.

"Our PC team is well-equipped and eager to take on the challenge of holding the Liberal government to account for their actions," said Crosbie.

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