Penashue appointed to federal cabinet

Rookie Conservative MP Peter Penashue made history Wednesday as he became the first Labrador Innu to be given a federal cabinet post.

Penashue, who staged an upset victory in the riding of Labrador in the May 2 election, has been given the Intergovernmental Affairs portfolio.

The appointment makes Penashue the first politician from Newfoundland and Labrador to sit in the federal cabinet since 2008 when voters shut out Tory candidates in the wake of the "anything but Conservative" campaign that former premier Danny Williams waged against Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Penashue was the only Conservative to win in Newfoundland and Labrador's seven ridings in this month's election. He narrowly defeated longtime Liberal MP Todd Russell.