Troubadour

Progressive Conservative incumbent Darin King and Liberal challenger Carol Ann Haley knocked on many doors and shook many hands during the past three weeks.  In the end, King held on to his Grand Bank district with more than 3,000 votes.

The New Democratic Party candidate running in the Grand Bank district was Wally Layman, who was in St. John’s during the campaign.  He ran his campaign via telephone from his St. John’s home and finished a distant third.

MHA Darin King stands outside of his campaign headquarters in St. Lawrence. James Churchill photo.

For the past four years,  King has been representing the district as the member of House and Assembly. King was minister of education for about a year, and now he currently is the minister of human resources and holds several other portfolios.

In 2007, Dr. King received approximately 3,000 more votes than the other candidate. However, 2007 was not the first time he ran for election in the district; his first attempt was in 2003. During that time, he was not successful in getting elected. Judy Foote, former MHA of Grand Bank and current Member of Parliament for the Burin-Random-St.George’s riding was elected. In this year’s election,  King ran against Foote’s assistant, Carol Ann Haley.

When asked about his feelings about  running against the two candidates during this year’s campaign , Dr. King said, “  I don’t focus on the individuals (running).” He stated that he doesn’t feel any different this year’s election candidates than he did in 2007.

“People in the district seem happy and excited of what we (P.C government) have done,” said King.

King campaigned hard during the election, going door to door. One of the houses that he went to was Rachel Rouls, an employee and a supervisor at the fishplant in St. Lawrence. Roul has lived in the district for most of her life. She currently resides in Little St. Lawrence. When it came time for her to vote, she went up to the polling station, not thinking twice of who would receive her vote. Roul was one of the approximate 3,000 voters  who voted for King, Roul said, “ I voted for Darin King. I feel Darin has done a great job in the past four years; he is a very positive and  hard-working individual. I think Darin has a lot to offer for our district, and there will be many positive things happen for us in the next four years.”