SYDNEY, N.S. — There are guaranteed to be at least six new faces on the Cape Breton Regional Municipality council once the dust settles after the upcoming election.
The names of 49 candidates, including six incumbents, are spread out over the municipality’s 12 districts — all of which are being contested.
Cape Breton University political science professor Tom Urbaniak said the sheer quantity of candidates will most likely translate into some very interesting races.
“I am very pleased to see the number of candidates – it says this is going to be a very competitive and unpredictable election,” said Urbaniak, whose tone gave away a hint of reservation as he chose his next words.
“I am concerned to see that such a low percentage of the candidates are women – that is something that jumped off the page at me immediately when reviewing the final list of candidates.”
Eleven, or just under 25 per cent of the 49 candidates for council, are women. In the 2016 election, 10 of the 46 council candidates were women. Three women were elected to CBRM council four years ago. In the Halifax Regional Municipality, 22 of this election’s 80 council candidates are women.
“When we think about grassroots community organizations, they are overwhelmingly led by women or the burden of the work falls disproportionately on women and yet there is this barrier once we step into a political realm,” said Urbaniak.
“In part, it’s the style of politics, so I reference community organizations which are often very much based on getting things done immediately as opposed to the perception, and sometimes the accurate perception, that there’s a lot of huffing and puffing and gameplaying in politics and not a lot of tangible impacts.”
Fellow CBU political scientist Jim Guy acknowledged the advancement of women in politics over the years but noted that real change does not always keep pace with the perception of change.
“You can’t change them all, you can’t change them quickly, but you can certainly challenge the erroneous assumptions that men make about women doing things and that comes from thousands of years of male dominance,” said Guy.
Regardless of gender, a number of the CBRM races are sure to be sources of great interest.
There are now six mayoral candidates. The name of a seventh, Gordon MacPherson, appeared on the CBRM website overnight but was removed following Wednesday’s 4 p.m. withdrawal deadline. The candidates are incumbent Cecil Clarke, Little Bras d’Or’s Archie MacKinnon, who contested the Sydney-Victoria electoral district in the 2019 federal election, District 8 councillor Amanda McDougall, Sydney businessman Kevin MacEachern, 1990 Sydney mayoral candidate Chris Abbass and former Sydney Steel president John Strasser.
District 11, comprised of New Waterford, New Victoria, Scotchtown, River Ryan and Lingan, has eight candidates in the hunt to replace former councillor Kendra Coombes, who resigned earlier this year after winning a byelection to become the MLA for Cape Breton Centre.
Retiring councillor Clarence Prince, who is leaving politics after a 38-year career, said he’s pleased to see so much interest in the election.
“I think it shows that people out there really care about their community, so to have that many candidates is a good thing, it’s a sign of democracy here at the grassroots level,” offered Prince.
“There will be a big turnover on council with at least six new faces – they’re going to find out that it all happens really fast and there will be a lot on their plate right away, especially with COVID.”
It’s early in the race with more than six weeks until the Oct. 17 election. However, with electronic voting in the CBRM, residents can begin casting ballots as early as Oct. 7. The online and telephone voting will continue through the end of election day.
