ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- A Liberal member of the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature says she wants to run for office in the federal riding vacated by former cabinet minister Peter Penashue.
Yvonne Jones, a former provincial Liberal leader, says she intends to seek the federal Grit nomination because she believes Labrador deserves better representation in the House of Commons.
"I'm running for the nomination because I feel Labrador needs good, strong leadership," Jones, 45, said in an interview Friday.
Her announcement comes after Penashue resigned his seat Thursday and repaid $30,000 in "ineligible" campaign donations from the 2011 federal election.
Penashue said he plans to seek re-election in a byelection. No date has been set for that vote.
He won his seat during the May 2011 election by just 79 votes in an upset over Liberal incumbent Todd Russell.
Jones represents the Labrador riding of Cartwright-L'anse au Clair in the provincial legislature. She was first elected in 1996 and later became a cabinet minister.
She was appointed interim leader of the provincial Liberals in 2007 and three years later took on the party's top job permanently.
But in August 2011, she was forced to step down while battling breast cancer.
