Humber Valley voters head to polls for byelection

A pharmacist will try again Monday night to claim a district for the Liberals, in the fourth provincial byelection held in Newfoundland and Labrador this month.

A byelection was called last month for Humber Valley district when Progressive Conservative backbencher Kathy Goudie resigned her seat.

Goudie cited stress from having been named in an audit of double billings of her constituency allowance as a key reason for her decision.

Competing in the byelection in the west coastdistrictare Liberal Dwight Ball, who lost the district by 289 votes in the 2003 general election, as well as PC candidate Darryl Kelly, the mayor of Deer Lake, and lawyer Shelley Senior, who is running for the New Democrats.

Polls open at 8 a.m. local time and close at 8 p.m.

The governing PCs swept byelections in three districts — Ferryland, Kilbride and Port au Port— last Thursday, all by wide margins.

The Humber Valley byelection is considered more competitive, in part because of Ball's strong showing in the 2003 election.

The late Rick Woodford held Humber Valley from 1985 to 2003. Woodford was elected first as a Progressive Conservative, but crossed the floor to join the Liberals on the eve of the 1996 election.

Woodford, who retired from politics in 2003 for health reasons, was killed in an April 2006 canoeing accident.