Some facts and figures about the federal riding of Cape Breton-Canso

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This article was published 13/10/2019 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. – Cape Breton-Canso

The riding has been represented by Liberal Rodger Cuzner since 2000, and in 2015 he won with 74 per cent of the vote. But Cuzner is one of a group of Nova Scotia Liberal incumbents not seeking re-election this year, raising Conservative hopes. Educator Mike Kelloway, who works at the Nova Scotia Community College, is trying to hold the seat for the Liberals against a challenge from Conservative Alfie MacLeod, who recently stepped down as a member of the provincial legislature to make a federal run.

Population: 71,913 (2016 census)

Major communities: Port Hawkesbury, Louisbourg, Inverness, Glace Bay.

Incumbent: Liberal Rodger Cuzner is not seeking re-election.

Main challengers: Educator Mike Kelloway for the Liberals; former provincial MLA Alfie MacLeod for the Conservatives; psychotherapist Laurie Suitor for the NDP; author Clive Doucet for the Greens; Michelle Dockrill, who once represented the riding for the NDP, as an Independent.

Election history: The area has a long history of voting Liberal, interrupted briefly when the NDP’s Michelle Dockrill knocked off David Dingwall in 1997. Liberal Rodger Cuzner beat Dockrill in 2000 and was re-elected five times.

Fun fact: The massive stone walls of the Fortress of Louisbourg, a national historic site, made it one of the most extensive fortifications in North America. The cost of construction was such that King Louis XV is said to have joked that he expected to see the fortress walls when he looked out the window of his palace in France.

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This report by The Canadian Press was originally published Oct. 13, 2019.