Penashue likely to lose to Liberal in upcoming byelection: poll
Liberal candiate Yvonne Jones has voter support
Intergovernmental Affairs Peter Penashue, MP for Labrador, addresses a news conference in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nov. 30, 2012. Penashue has resigned his seat in the House of Commons and says he’ll run again in Labrador in an effort to clear the air over election funding irregularities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
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There is bad news for former Conservative MP Peter Penashue in a poll conducted by Forum Research in his riding.
The Conservative candidate, who resigned in March amid an admission that he accepted ineligible campaign contributions in 2011, will likely be defeated by Liberal candidate Yvonne Jones in an upcoming byelection, the poll says.
The poll, which was conducted between March 30 and April 2, asked 274 respondents who they would support in the byelection. Of those, reports the Globe and Mail, 57 per cent said they would support Jones, 20 per cent said they would vote for Penashue and 21 per cent said they supported NDP candidate Harry Borlase.
Jones is a long-time member of the provincial legislature for Newfoundland and Labrador and is taking a run at the federal seat.
The unfavourable poll comes despite the fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper lauded Penashue as “best member of Parliament Labrador has ever had.” If this latest poll is any indication, maybe the people of Labrador will disagree.
The fact that Penashue is facing a tough race to reclaim his seat is not a surprise. In the 2011 election he defeated Liberal candidate Todd Russell by just 79 votes. And, that time around, Penashue had at least $30,000 in ineligible campaign donations to help him net the win.
Harper has until Sept. 14 to set a date for the byelection.