Injury lawyer and son of John Crosbie seeks Conservative nod in Newfoundland

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Ches Crosbie comes from a distinguished line of Newfoundland and Labrador politicians and hopes to continue that tradition by running for the federal Conservatives.

The lawyer and personal injury specialist announced Thursday he’ll seek the Conservative nomination in the riding of Avalon. He is the son of John Crosbie, who served as the province’s lieutenant-governor and as a federal cabinet minister.

The senior Crosbie would become one of the most vocal proponents of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement while serving under former prime minister Brian Mulroney. He spent 17 years as a federal politician before retiring in 1993.

More than 20 years after his father’s retirement, Ches Crosbie is looking for his own political success story.

The riding of Avalon, has been held by Liberal Scott Andrews since 2008.

Andrews was suspended from the Liberal caucus in November over alleged personal misconduct though he has denied any wrongdoing. He has said he plans to run again in an election expected next year.

Crosbie, 61, is already a well-known lawyer in St. John’s.

He is a former Rhodes scholar who graduated from Dalhousie University’s law school in Halifax before joining the Newfoundland and Labrador bar in 1983. He formed his own law firm in 1991.

Recently, he led class-action claims on behalf of victims injured in moose-vehicle crashes, and former residential school students excluded from a federal apology and compensation package.

Crosbie said that as a personal injury lawyer, he has helped many clients make legal choices.

Politics is the next step, he said.

Now he said he wants “to give people the power to make great decisions about the kind of province and country they want to live in and, especially, they want their children to live in.”

Crosbie said times have changed since former premier Danny Williams launched his Anything But Conservative campaign over equalization payments and oil royalties in 2008.

The province has no Conservative MPs and Crosbie said he believes Prime Minister Stephen Harper will likely win the next election. He said the province needs strong representation in the tradition of his father with direct access to power in Ottawa.

Crosbie’s grandfather, Chesley Crosbie, was a prominent St. John’s businessman and politician who took over enterprises founded by his father, Sir John Chalker Crosbie. They included hotels, shipping, manufacturing and fish export interests across the province.

Chesley Crosbie in 1948 formed the Party for Economic Union with the United States to promote free trade with America instead of a union with Canada. Newfoundland joined Confederation the following year.