Humber West stays Tory blue

The Tory who won a western Newfoundland byelection on Tuesday night says hard work and a lot of walking carried him to victory in a district left vacant when Danny Williams retired from politics.

"We worked hard the last three weeks, knocked on every door," Vaughn Granter said after easily winning a byelection race in Humber West with almost two thirds of the votes cast.

"We'll work hard for the next three months to get ready for the general election come October."

Elections Newfoundland and Labrador reported that Granter, a Corner Brook high school principal, had 2,109 votes, well ahead of Liberal challenger Mark Watton, who received 1,097 votes.

NDP candidate Rosie Myers, a university student, trailed far behind with 112 votes.

Turnout for the byelection was just 37 per cent. Stormy weather in the Corner Brook area likely deterred some residents from heading to polling booths.

Humber West has voted with the government side in every election in the last 40 years, except for Williams's byelection breakthrough in 2001. The district voted Tory during the Frank Moores and Brian Peckford eras Moores himself held the seat while he was premier and then with the Liberals during the Clyde Wells and Brian Tobin eras.

Williams won the seat in 2001 after former Liberal cabinet minister Paul Dicks left politics, and then won the seat in the next two elections.

Watton, a lawyer who grew up in Corner Brook and a former top aide to Paul Martin while he was prime minister, brought sharp criticism of the governing Tories to the campaign, and criticized Granter for ducking out of a debate on environmental issues.

"I don't have any regrets. I felt we ran a good campaign," Watton said. "Like I said, I wouldn't change anything, except maybe the turnout."

Premier Kathy Dunderdale cheered the victory with party workers.

Asked about Granter's future in government, she said, " We have a full complement in the cabinet at the moment but we're coming into a fall election that we're going to win. And we'll see how things shape up after that."