CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, N.L. - For the first time in its history, Newfoundland and Labrador did not return a governing member to the House of Commons -- an outcome that will have consequences for the province, defeated Tory MP Fabian Manning warned Tuesday.
A wave of anti-Conservative rhetoric, led by the massively popular Premier Danny Williams, was too strong to overcome for the party as it was wiped off the electoral map in the province.
Manning, who stood as the party's brightest hope of retaining a presence, conceded he was a victim of the premier's so-called Anything But Conservative campaign.
"When you're dealing with the popularity of the premier here in Newfoundland and Labrador and you have several of his ministers travelling around the riding, campaigning for the ABC campaign, I think it would be naive to think that it didn't play a part in tonight's results," Manning told reporters after he was soundly defeated by Liberal candidate Scott Andrews in Avalon riding.
"I have to be completely honest. This has been an extremely rough and tough campaign. The waves were just too much to knock down."
The Tories lost all three seats they held in the seven-seat province prior to the election call. The party's two other MPs at dissolution -- Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn and Norm Doyle -- didn't run again.
"Not having a representative within the government creates a level of anxiety and certainly a concern for me, whether it was me or somebody else that would have that opportunity," Manning said.
"My experience in the past three years in Ottawa leads me to believe that is not a wise decision."
Throughout the election campaign, Williams implored voters to oust the Conservatives, portraying Manning as a puppet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Williams has been engaged in a bitter feud with Harper over Newfoundland's ability to retain its offshore oil revenues.
He even registered his Anything But Conservative campaign with Elections Canada as a third party and bought a billboard in downtown Toronto that reminded voters that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty once said Ontario was the last place someone would want to invest.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay acknowledged that Williams's campaign hurt the Conservatives in the province.
"It's clearly unusual ... to see a sitting Conservative premier viciously attack in a personal way both the prime minister and our incumbent, Fabian Manning," MacKay said after winning his seat in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova.
At one point during the election campaign, Williams took his fight with Harper into the heart of Manning's riding, delivering a stump-style speech to the Conception Bay Chamber of Commerce.
But Williams did not campaign nationally as expected, declining speaking engagement invitations and requests to support opposition candidates from across Canada.
To combat the premier's message in Newfoundland, federal Conservatives enlisted the help of high-profile cabinet ministers, including MacKay. They suggested the province could lose out on investments if it didn't elect a Tory in a Harper-led government.
In St. John's East, meanwhile, the New Democrats made a breakthrough by winning their first seat in the province in more than 20 years with candidate Jack Harris's victory.
