CAPE BRETON: Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (NDP) leadership candidate Claudia Chender visited Cape Breton earlier this month.
The MLA for Dartmouth South and NDP House Leader spoke with NDP members, past and present, as well as people with no party affiliation in Cape Breton about what the NDP needs to do to grow and make sure the priorities of Cape Bretoners are heard and reflected in the party.
Not only was this Chender’s first visit to Cape Breton, this was her first outing in an official capacity since announcing her candidacy to become the next leader of the provincial NDP.
“It was awesome. I heard a lot from folks in CBRM about kind of feeling like Halifax constantly ignores them, so it was really important to me for my first trip to be to Cape Breton Island and in particular CBRM,” Chender told The Reporter. “It was wonderful to move through all those communities, most of which have really storied roots in the NDP party and to meet all kinds of people who have been working to make their communities better for generations now; to talk to them about the problems we’re facing and the opportunities we have as we move forward.”
The critic for Justice, the Status of Women, Economic Development, Natural Resources and Renewables, and Fisheries and Aquaculture, who is a lawyer by trade and worked with the Nova Scotia Barristers Society, was a legal educator before being first elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021.
“I’ve been an MLA for about five years and have been working with our caucus on a number of really important issues for Nova Scotia and we’ve seen many of those issues really come to the fore,” Chender said on her motivation to throw her name in the ring of the leadership campaign. “I think Nova Scotia is really facing some important turning points in the next little while around population, and housing, and healthcare and all the other things we’re talking about.”
Chender suggested that when Garry Burrill stepped aside, she was more than willing to pick up where her predecessor left of on problems that she and her colleagues have been working on for a long time.
“I was pleased to put my name in to take up the fight to make sure that we can have an equitable and wonderful Nova Scotia to live in for all of us and for all of our children,” Chender said. “I have three children and I want to make sure that they get to grow up in a, as wonderful place as we did.”
Her initial tour to Cape Breton Island came with stops in North Sydney, Sydney, New Waterford and Glace Bay, but indicated she would return to the island, featuring a stop in the Strait area, sometime in May as the campaign continues.
“We intentionally had a number of very small gatherings with five, six, or seven people at a time,” Chender said. “We’ll be back in May, and hopefully COVID and restrictions-permitting, we’ll have some larger events, but it was really important to both respect public health guidelines, but also to respect people’s comfort.”
Where people weren’t comfortable, Chender explained they called people on the phone and used Zoom, to connect with people.
“There’s no substitute in meeting people in their own communities,” Chender said. “I think what we heard is there are some real changing demographics in Cape Breton, as there are everywhere, on the one hand, we know that in Nova Scotia we have more and more seniors so making sure that we’re talking about what those folks need.”
As for the concerns of the western side of the island, she indicated she will be right in their corner with them as she intends to fight for the issues they care about, and will listen to them to find out what their hopes and dreams are, as well as what the problems they’re facing.
“We heard a lot of different things, many of which echo around the province, but have a specific Cape Breton dimension, and so it’s really important that we’re listening to people on the ground,” Chender said. “I think people trust New Democrats to have their best and most important interests at heart, and so I think our practice as a party is just making sure people continue to believe in us and know that we’re fighting for them.”
Because New Democrats consistently have shown the idea of democratic governance where everyone is represented, where everyone’s needs are met and where they’re fighting for a better Nova Scotia, Chender added they’re not in it for the big corporate interest or the get rich quick scheme, they’re in it for Nova Scotians.
“And whether those Nova Scotians are in Chéticamp, Sydney, Canso, Yarmouth, or anywhere else across the province, our goal is the same,” Chender said. “Which is to make sure everyone can enjoy this amazing province, and live with dignity and have what they need, I think our job it to prove that to people, and that’s what I’m setting out to do.”