Cape Breton voters elect consistency as many incumbents returned to legislature

The party standingsremained largelyunchangedin eight Cape Breton ridings,but two seats had flipped when thevotes were counted in Tuesday's provincial election,including in Glace Bay-Dominionwhere John White wrested the riding away from the Liberals in a nail-biter.

Theriding had beenheld 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 Bayand has been mostly held by the Liberalssince 1988. MacLellanwas 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, expresseddisappointmentin hisloss to White, but saidhe 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 NDPchallengerMadonna Doucetteby 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 towardSydney Riveran area previously held by Liberal Manning MacDonald.

Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier

In Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier, incumbent NDP candidate Kendra Coombesnarrowly hung on to her seat after a strong challenge byLiberal Michelle Wilson, who works for aSydney downtown business association.

PC candidate Bryden Mombourquetteand the Green Party's Robbie Husseytrailed far behind the other contenders.

Coombes, a former CBRM councillor,took the riding in a byelectionafter 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 inNew Waterford, but now includes Whitney Pier.

Victoria-The Lakes

In Victoria-The Lakes, incumbent PC candidate Keith Bainkept 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 minorityPC 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 saidroad improvements and expansion of high-speed internet are the main issues in the riding.

NDP candidate Adrianna MacKinnonand Independent candidate Stemer MacLeodfell 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 CapeBreton in Meat Cove, hasswapped back and forth six times in the previous12 elections between the Liberals and PCs.

The riding includes the Eskasoni and Wagmatcook First Nations.

Richmond

In Richmond,PC candidate Trevor Boudreaubrought 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 ConservativeMLA 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, whilePaon and the NDP's Bryson Syliboywere at the back of the pack.

The riding is one of fourso-called protected ridings. Theboundaries have been redrawn to match the county lines and increase the odds of electing an Acadian member tothe 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 wanthealth-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.

Petersgot into trouble over social media comments she made in 2019,drawing condemnation from Liberal colleague Nadine Bernard. However, Peters remainedon 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 indefeat byLiberal challenger Fred Tilley, principal of Nova Scotia Community College's Marconi campus in Sydney.

The NDP's Jennifer Morrison came in third.

Tilleysaidhe is disappointed in the Liberal Party standings, but he is ready to roll up his sleeves and get down to work in the riding, whichruns along the opposite side of theharbour 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 PCAllan MacMasterwas re-elected over the Liberals' Damian MacInnis and the NDP'sJoanna Clark.

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

He saidbeing 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," MacMastersaid.

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