his late entrance into the campaign and his previous comments he still managed to place a strong second in the riding. On September 17, 2009, the New Democrats nominated Cleary as their candidate in St. John's South-Mount Pearl for the next federal election. In October 2010, Cleary announced that he would withdraw his candidacy. He stated that being a political candidate had created a conflict with his journalism work and that he wished to continue with his journalism career. He also noted that he had severed all ties with the NDP. However, in March 2011 with the announcement of a federal election, Cleary said he would return to run for the NDP again. On May 2, Cleary defeated Liberal Siobhán Coady receiving 18,332 votes to Coady's 10,670. After Lorraine Michael stepped down as the leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party in early 2015, Cleary publicly mused running for the party's leadership in the 2015 leadership election, but ultimately decided to not seek the position. In the 2015 federal election, Cleary was defeated by Liberal Seamus O'Regan. On election night, NDP leader Tom Mulcair called Cleary his “political hero”. He also supports ending the NDP's association with trade unions. Provincial politics After his defeat in the 2015 federal election, Cleary entered talks with the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador to run under their banner in the 2015 Newfoundland and Labrador general election. On October 30, Cleary announced that he would seek the party's nomination in the electoral district of Windsor Lake. He won the Progressive Conservative nomination but was defeated in the general election by Liberal incumbent Cathy Bennett. Union activism In 2016, Cleary started efforts to organize a new union of fish harvesters, to be called the Federation of Independent Seafood Harvesters, or FISH-NL, as a rival to the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union. Cleary travelled throughout the province signing up members for union certification, their application for union recognition was considered by the Labour Relations Board from 2016 to 2018. On September 28, 2018 the Labour Relations Board ruled that FISH-NL did not have enough support to trigger a ratification vote. On December 3, 2019, Cleary announced the disillusion of FISH-NL after it failed to gain the necessary 4000 signatures after a second membership drive to trigger a ratification vote. Electoral history Provincial Federal References External links Members of the House of Commons