Darren Bruckschwaiger aims to win back Cape Breton council seat

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Darren Bruckschwaiger, a former councillor for District 10 in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, is back home from Fort McMurray, Alta., and has decided to run for office again in this fall's municipal elections.

Bruckschwaiger, 55, suddenly resigned from council in September 2014 to take a job as a labourer out west, where he worked for 18 months.

It caused quite a stir in the CBRM where he had served on council for 24 years — representing Dominion, Gardiner Mines, and large portions of Reserve Mines and Glace Bay.

He also served as deputy mayor for CBRM in 2009 and 2010. However, he said he felt he could not secure his family's financial security on a councillor's salary and decided to make a significant change.

Missing home

Bruckschwaiger says now it was the right thing to do.

"I made some good money there in 18 months. I put myself in a good position," he said, emphasizing how grateful he is for the employment opportunities he enjoyed in Fort McMurray.

Although he had switched jobs, he yearned for his former role constantly.

"It starts to get at you. You miss this. It was instant for me. I felt it. That feeling didn't disappear," Bruckschwaiger said.

People from back home kept sending him emails asking for help in filling out grant applications or writing resumes, he said.

He said he kept a close watch on the whole municipality for the entire time he was gone.

"My concerns are CBRM-wide. We're one community now," he said.

Respect for those who head west

Bruckschwaiger adds that he has a whole new respect for the sacrifices made by people who travel back and forth between Nova Scotia and the West, often leaving their families for weeks at a time.

He worries though that the out-migration problem experienced by Cape Breton may be made worse by multiple school closures.

He observes that it's often the school that keeps the rest of the family in Cape Breton while the father travels for work. But with a school closed, the entire family may now be inclined to relocate elsewhere, he said.

'We rely so heavily on our beachfronts'

As for other issues he's concerned about in the municipality, Bruckschwaiger cites ongoing sewage treatment as high on his list.

"We rely so heavily on our beachfronts," he said, noting that sewage contamination has been a major problem at Dominion Beach and Indian Beach in North Sydney.

He also calls for all three levels of government to work together to find ways to build more and better roads, and said he favours tolls.

Plans to stay close to home

Bruckschwaiger is also a proponent of developing a commercial port in Sydney Harbour.

"We have to continue to march on to make this happen."

Although he's determined to win, Bruckschwaiger said he has other options if he's not voted in by the electorate — such as going to work for a local business.

"Whatever I do, I plan to stay as close to home as possible," he said.

Bruckschwaiger will have at least one opponent in the fall election in District 10. Coun. Darrell Flynn has announced he will be running again for the position.