Danny Williams is attempting to bury the hatchet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper after the Newfoundland and Labrador premier waged a bitter anti-Conservative campaign during the recent federal election.

"This week past I wrote a letter to Stephen Harper congratulating him on his minority win, and also requesting that we have a meeting sometime at his convenience, sometime before the end of the year. So I've already reached out," Williams said at a provincial Progressive Conservative party convention on the weekend.

Williams launched a campaign he coined "ABC," or "anything but Conservative," prior to the Oct. 14 general election in an effort to defeat federal Conservative candidates in Newfoundland and Labrador's seven ridings. He succeeded, as not one Conservative MP was elected from the Atlantic province. The Conservatives had held three Newfoundland and Labrador seats going into the vote.

At the provincial Progressive Conservative convention held in Corner Brook on Saturday, Williams said he could still work with Harper.

"If Stephen Harper warmed up to Newfoundland and Labrador and he treated our people fairly, I certainly could be a good friend to Stephen Harper, absolutely."

Williams's new openness to co-operation is sitting well with federal Conservatives such as Liam O'Brien, who attended the provincial conference.

"I'm glad we're turning a corner there," O'Brien said. "It would be nice for him to finally just say it: a Conservative is a Conservative is a Conservative, a Tory is a Tory is a Tory, [and] not constantly distinguish between the two.

"The provincial party and the federal party have slightly different names, but it's the same people, the same family."

Williams promised 'goose egg' in 2007

Williams unveiled his "anything but Conservative" campaign last year, accusing Harper and his Tory government of betraying written election promises to exclude non-renewable energy revenues from the federal equalization formula that Ottawa uses to distribute funds to provinces.

The dispute dated back to a meeting in October 2006, when a furious Williams told a convention of provincial Tories that "there better be a big goose egg" for the Conservatives during the next federal election if the equalization promises were not kept.

The provincial Progressive Conservative party registered the campaign as a third party with Elections Canada, allowing it to buy ads — including a billboard near the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto, the campaign's one prominent reach outside the province.