Cape Breton voters elect consistency as many incumbents returned to legislature

The party standings remained largely unchanged in eight Cape Breton ridings, but two seats had flipped when the votes were counted in Tuesday's provincial election, including in Glace Bay-Dominion where John White wrested the riding away from the Liberals in a nail-biter.

The riding had been held by cabinet minister Geoff MacLellan, who stepped down earlier this year saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.

It was a close race, with White taking it for the PCs with an unofficial tally of 2,759. The NDP's John Morgan was leading with one poll remaining, but when the final result came in, he was 33 votes shy of a win.

The Liberal candidate, John John McCarthy, was only 246 votes behind Morgan.

White, a Glace Bay High School teacher, was emotional after the win, saying the area has been plagued by drugs and poverty, and he plans to change that.

"I'm trying not to cry in front of the camera, but this is the biggest moment in my life," he said. "But as a teacher, I'm standing here in front of you on the verge of creating the biggest lesson I've ever taught, and that's for this town to stand on its feet again. That's what we're going to do."

The riding was formerly called Glace Bay and has been mostly held by the Liberals since 1988. MacLellan was first elected in a byelection in 2010 when the Liberals were in opposition, but became minister of transportation in 2013 under then premier Stephen McNeil.

White, who is also a volunteer firefighter and first responder who runs two local charities, came close to beating MacLellan in 2017.

Morgan, who was formerly elected mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality with huge swaths of the popular vote, expressed disappointment in his loss to White, but said he and his team knew they were in a tight three-way race.

"We hoped we would win, but I can't say that we were confident going into it," Morgan said.

Sydney-Membertou

In Sydney-Membertou, Liberal incumbent Derek Mombourquette defeated NDP challenger Madonna Doucette by a healthy margin. She had come close to knocking off the cabinet minister in 2017.  

PC candidate Pauline Singer came in last. 

Mombourquette first ran in the riding of Sydney-Whitney Pier in 2013, but lost to Gordie Gosse, the popular NDP candidate. Gosse stepped down two years later and Mombourquette won the byelection. He became a cabinet minister after winning the seat again in the 2017 general election.

This time, the riding has shifted west, away from traditional NDP territory in Whitney Pier and toward Sydney River — an area previously held by Liberal Manning MacDonald.

Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier

In Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier, incumbent NDP candidate Kendra Coombes narrowly hung on to her seat after a strong challenge by Liberal Michelle Wilson, who works for a Sydney downtown business association. 

PC candidate Bryden Mombourquette and the Green Party's Robbie Hussey trailed far behind the other contenders.

Coombes, a former CBRM councillor, took the riding in a byelection after the NDP's Tammy Martin stepped down for personal reasons early last year, when the riding was called Cape Breton Centre. Its population base is in New Waterford, but now includes Whitney Pier.

Victoria-The Lakes

In Victoria-The Lakes, incumbent PC candidate Keith Bain kept the seat Tory blue.

Bain staved off a challenge by Nadine Bernard, who was touted by the Liberals as potentially the first Mi'kmaw MLA in the province.

Bain was a member of Rodney MacDonald's minority PC government in 2006, but has been in opposition since then.

"I hope that I'm going to have more of a say around the caucus table and the government, and maybe some of the things that I couldn't accomplish, I might be able to," said Bain.

Bain said road improvements and expansion of high-speed internet are the main issues in the riding.

NDP candidate Adrianna MacKinnon and Independent candidate Stemer MacLeod fell far short of the two front-runners. 

The largely rural riding, which runs from the centre of Bras d'Or Lake to the northern tip of Cape Breton in Meat Cove, has swapped back and forth six times in the previous 12 elections between the Liberals and PCs.

The riding includes the Eskasoni and Wagmatcook First Nations.

Richmond

In Richmond, PC candidate Trevor Boudreau brought the riding back into the Tory fold.

The incumbent, Alana Paon, was first elected in 2017, knocking off Liberal cabinet minister Michel Samson. The Progressive Conservative MLA had a rocky first term and was kicked out of the party over a series of problems with legislature colleagues.

Liberal candidate Matt Haley came within 700 votes or so of stealing the seat, while Paon and the NDP's Bryson Syliboy were at the back of the pack.

The riding is one of four so-called protected ridings. The boundaries have been redrawn to match the county lines and increase the odds of electing an Acadian member to the legislative assembly. Richmond has about 7,600 electors, while other ridings in Cape Breton vary between 13,000 and 16,000 voters.

Cape Breton East

In Cape Breton East, incumbent PC Brian Comer was re-elected over Liberal challenger Heather Peters and the NDP's Barbara Beaton.

Comer, a former mental health and addictions nurse, said he heard loud and clear from voters that they want health-care concerns addressed.

"It didn't matter if you were in Gabarus or if you were in Louisbourg, if you were in Howie Centre or Sydney River," he said.

Voters also had concerns about childhood poverty and mental health, Comer said.

Peters got into trouble over social media comments she made in 2019, drawing condemnation from Liberal colleague Nadine Bernard. However, Peters remained on the ballot in the riding, which used to be called Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg.

Northside-Westmount

In Northside-Westmount, incumbent PC Murray Ryan went down in defeat by Liberal challenger Fred Tilley, principal of Nova Scotia Community College's Marconi campus in Sydney.

The NDP's Jennifer Morrison came in third.

Tilley said he is disappointed in the Liberal Party standings, but he is ready to roll up his sleeves and get down to work in the riding, which runs along the opposite side of the harbour from Sydney.

"Of course, we would have loved to have formed government, because I think we had a great platform and we had lots of great candidates," he said. "But at the end of the day, we enter these races for what we can do at the local level, and I'm excited to see what I can do for the residents of Northside-Westmount."

Inverness

In the riding of Inverness, which covers a large swath of the west side of Cape Breton along the Gulf of St. Lawrence, incumbent PC Allan MacMaster was re-elected over the Liberals' Damian MacInnis and the NDP's Joanna Clark. 

MacMaster was first elected in 2009 and has spent 12 years in opposition.

He said being on the government side makes this win feel a little different.

"There's also a lot of responsibility and as much as it's nice to win, my mind is already shifting towards what needs to be done," MacMaster said.

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