Nova Scotia

Sydney-Whitney Pier Liberals choose their candidate

The Liberal candidate for Sydney-Whitney Pier has been nominated and says all bets are off for the upcoming byelection.

Derek Mombourquette won the nomination Saturday over Nadine Bernard

The Liberal candidate for Sydney-Whitney Pier has been nominated and says all bets are off for the upcoming byelection.

Derek Mombourquette won the nomination Saturday over Nadine Bernard.

The riding is an amalgamation of one represented by longtime Liberal Manning MacDonald and another held by popular New Democratic Party member Gordie Gosse.

Mombourquette says the contenders this time are on a level playing field.

"All bets are off for, if you know what I mean, for us," he said. "We had a great show the last time we want to build on that so, there's a lot of hard work to be done to do that. Any predictions at this point  it's anybody's to win."

Mombourquette ran for the Liberals in 2013 and lost to Gosse. He is also a former municipal councillor.

The Progressive Conservatives have nominated Brian MacArthur, head of the Cape Breton Business College to run.

The NDP's nominating meeting is on May 26.

The Sydney-Whitney Pier riding was left vacant by the sudden resignation of Gosse.

The Premier is expected to call a byelection soon.