NL Alliance leader suspends campaign after medical emergency

NL Alliance Leader Graydon Pelley has suspended his campaign after suffering a medical emergency, the party's executive says.

In a release on its Twitter account Sunday morning, the party said Pelley was taken to hospital Saturday, where it was confirmed that he would need emergency surgery.

In a media release the party said Pelley will be suspending his campaign pending the outcome of the procedure and required recovery time.

"The work of [the] NL Alliance is so important to Graydon and I know missing out on that while facing this challenge is adding to his discomfort. However, his health is what's most important now and no one disagrees with that," the party's president, Rudy Norman, said in the release.

Norman told CBC Newsit's too early to know how long Pelley'srecovery will take, but said Pelley is a key part of the party who wants the rest of the party's candidates to continue campaigning.

"We'd be doing him a disservice if we threw in the towel at this point just because he's facing this challenge," Norman said.

"Obviously it's going to be a challenge, but we're going to keep going. We've got some quality candidates in other districts across the province, they're going to keep going."

Pelley is running in the district of Humber-Gros Morne,and Norman said he expects him to be back on the campaign trail in the district when he recovers.

Candidate nominationsare still open until Jan. 23, and the party says it expects more candidates to be named in the coming days.

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