GLACE BAY: The federal riding of Cape Breton-Canso will remain in the Liberal column.
At press time, incumbent Mike Kelloway was leading and declared elected in the riding which covers the eastern part of Antigonish County, as well as Inverness, Richmond, and Guysborough counties, along with parts of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
“What I’m thinking is gratitude, what I’m thinking is the hard work of everyone around, the response at the doors. I’m thinking of all the opportunities in our riding. I’m thinking of all the challenges in the riding. It’s a special night for myself, and for all my supporters,” he told The Reporter. “We hustled, but that’s indicative of our team; we hustled for the last two years and trying to do politics differently, bringing to the office to different parts of the riding, and playing a more engaged role, in terms of a politician’s office.”
With half of the polls reporting, Elections Canada has Kelloway with 45 per cent of the vote, compared to 33 per cent for Conservative candidate Fiona MacLeod, 17 per cent for NDP candidate Jana Reddick, while for the People’s Party of Canada, candidate Brad Grandy five per cent.
“I’m thinking of my competitors, Fiona, Brad, and Jana,” Kelloway said. “It takes a lot to put your name on a ballot. It takes a lot to run a campaign; it’s not just you, it’s your family. I’m appreciative of their efforts and their viewpoints. And it was a very good campaign, in terms of being a clean campaign.”
Kelloway first won election in 2019 finishing with 16,097 votes, good for 38.5 per cent of the vote, while Conservative candidate Alfie MacLeod came away with 14,478, or 34.6 per cent of the vote.
Kelloway replaced former Liberal Member of Parliament Rodger Cuzner who won the riding six times dating to his first election in 2000.
In the 2015 election, Cuzner took the riding with a 25,917 vote majority, netting 32,163 votes as his NDP, Conservative and Green opposition managed a combined 11,074 votes.
“I’m honoured to continue to work on behalf of the people of the riding because I care, I know they care, and I want to do more with people that want to do good things. I’m full of gratitude, full of optimism, and full of vim and vigour to get to work,” he added. “I take this seriously. I want to represent everyone like I did the last two years, and I have to tell you, I’m hungry to get back to work. I’d go back right now if I could because I love the job, love the people. It’s, to me, an act of service and I want to continue that, and it looks like the people of Cape Breton-Canso have given me that opportunity, and I’m very humbled by that.”
For updated results, go to the Elections Canada website: https://elections.ca/.