Todd Perrin has withdrawn his nomination bid for the Progressive Conservatives in St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi.
The decision – posted to his Twitter account early Friday evening – came just one day after he announced he would seek the nomination.
Perrin, who is chef and co-owner at Mallard Cottage in Quidi Vidi, wrote that his business is his passion – “not a career.”
“And with discussions of ‘blind trust’ and ‘arms length’ I quickly realized I had not appreciated the extent of the sacrifice and change required, and what that would mean to me and those that work in my restaurant and businesses,” he tweeted.
“I was excited to try to be part of a different approach from that of the past few years. I have confidence that Ches (Crosbie) and his current team share an interest in seeing the potential of r (sic) province more fully realized and I wish them well going forward.”
Within minutes of Perrin’s tweets, the Tories announced that “due to extenuating circumstances” the party was suspending the nomination period in the district “until further notice.”
St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi has been held by the NDP’ Lorraine Michael since 2006. Michael stepped aside last week and announced current party leader Alison Coffin would run in the district in the 2019 provincial election.