Manning served as a Progressive Conservative and later as the independent Member of the House of Assembly for the district of Placentia and St. Mary’s from 1999 to 2005.

He was also a lead figure for the Cape Shore Regional Development Association before being elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly in 1993 as a Progressive Conservative.

[7] Avalon had previously been represented by John Efford, a Liberal cabinet minister, who had been elected by a wide margin in 2004.

The provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Premier Danny Williams in particular have opposed the budget which contains revisions to a previously agreed upon equalization formula.

[10] In late August 2007, he attacked the Liberal environmental plan as making the Hebron offshore oil megaproject "dead on arrival."

Scott Simms, a Liberal MP from central Newfoundland, rejected Manning's accusations, insisting that the Hebron project would not be cancelled.