Principal takes PC nod in Humber West

A high school principal won a five-way race Wednesday night to be the Tory candidate in a byelection that will fill a seat made vacant when former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams retired last month.

Vaughn Granter won the battle for the Progressive Conservative nomination, the party said in a statement Wednesday night.

The party said Granter, who is principal of Corner Brook Regional High School, polled 519 of the votes cast Wednesday during a nominating meeting, well ahead of second-place finisher Don Downer, a retired professor, who received 316 votes.

Businessman Mel Woodward placed third with 196 votes, while Neville Greeley the mayor of Corner Brook was fourth with 157 votes. David Wells, a retired army major, came fifth with 61 votes.

No date has yet been set for the Humber West byelection, which must be held by early March, or within three months of the seat becoming vacant.

Williams, who retired from politics in early December, won the seat in a 2001 byelection. Former Liberal cabinet minister Paul Dicks had held the seat for the 12 preceding years.

The Liberals and NDP have not yet nominated candidates in the byelection, although both parties have said a proposal to burn tires to generate power for the Kruger Inc. newsprint mill will be an issue on the campaign trail.