HEATHERTON — Nova Scotia’s former finance minister and MLA for Inverness, Allan MacMaster, has won in a three-way race for the Conservative Party of Canada’s nomination in the newly formed federal riding of Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish.
MacMaster defeated Fiona MacLeod and Adam Rodgers after a two-day nomination process that ended Monday night (Feb 17) in Heatherton. The counts were not immediately available before press time but, according to Rodgers in a phone interview on Tuesday (Feb. 18), “close to” 1,000 votes were cast.
In a call with The Journal following the event, MacMaster described “a good, clean campaign” during which MacLeod and Rodgers “worked very hard, and were committed to the cause to change the government in Ottawa. It’s really a blessing when there’s a lot of interest by people who want to put their name on the ballot. It’s good for the cause.”
MacMaster, who had served as the MLA for Inverness since 2009, resigned from his provincial cabinet position as finance minister last October to focus on his campaign for the nomination for the upcoming federal election, widely expected this spring.
After winning the nomination, he emphasized that his priorities are the local economy, tax policy and trade. “With what the government in Ottawa has been doing with the seafood industry, it no longer has the confidence of the fishers,” he said. “The most important thing the government can do for the fishery is ensure that conservation measures are upheld and that everybody’s playing by the same rules. The fishers don’t want to hurt the resource. They want it to be there for them and their families.”
On the carbon tax, he said, “It wasn’t so long ago that I was being ridiculed by Nova Scotia Liberal MPs for fighting against [it]. The carbon tax has been a major part of Liberal policy during their time in government and, today, when you go down to the gas station to buy your litre of gas, you have to pay 23 cents of carbon tax. Now, suddenly, they [the Liberals] are trying to say, ‘Oh, well, we’re going to get rid of that.’ Well, too little, too late.”
MacMaster also noted that trade and border tensions with the U.S. administration require a new approach from the Canadian government. “We are so linked with the United States,” he said. “Take the manufacturing of automobiles. There is so much movement of goods back and forth across our border to build a single car; to start putting tariffs on it would be very difficult and, in the end, is not going to produce a product that’s better or cheaper for consumers.
“My hope is that in the not-too-distant future we will have a government in Canada that’s actively working to find a resolution to some of the things we’ve been hearing about in the news these last few weeks.”
Rodgers described the weekend nomination campaign for the new riding – formed last year after a federal review board reconfigured the former Cape Breton-Canso and Sydney-Victoria constituencies as Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish and Sydney-Glace Bay – as tough and competitive. “I can’t be surprised to lose to somebody with a political track record and team like Allan MacMaster,” he said. “He’s always been around provincial politics. He is a formidable candidate, obviously. Still, anytime you lose, it stings.”
With MacMaster’s nomination secured, attention now turns to the Liberal Party of Canada, which has not declared a candidate in Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish. Incumbent Liberal MP for Cape Breton-Canso Mike Kelloway has opted to seek the Liberal nomination for Sydney-Glace Bay – up against former Sydney-Victoria Liberal MP Jaime Battiste – citing personal and political ties to the region.
Asked about his decision, Kelloway told The Journal earlier this month, “Sydney-Glace Bay is where I was born, raised, where I have a family, where I live, where I’ve worked. I’m declaring my candidacy because representing the communities you know, and who know you, is the whole point of being a Member of Parliament ... It’s home.”
The next federal election is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, under the fixed-date provisions of the Canada Elections Act. However, political analysts suggest that, given the pending new leadership of the governing Liberals, it will likely be called sometime this spring.
