Sydney—Victoria

Sydney—Victoria covers the eastern half of Cape Breton Island, combining the urban core of Sydney with the rural highlands and coastal communities of Victoria County. The riding takes in the Bras d'Or Lake shoreline, the village of Baddeck — gateway to the Cabot Trail — and the Ingonish area along Cape Breton's northern coast.

Candidates

Mark Eyking (Liberal) — Eyking was a Cape Breton farmer whose parents emigrated from the Netherlands in 1952. He trained at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and operated a farm in the Sydney area before entering politics. First elected in 2000, the 2015 contest marked his sixth consecutive campaign in the riding. Among his accomplishments as an MP, he helped secure federal funding for a second cruise ship berth at the Port of Sydney and supported the multi-year cleanup of the Sydney tar ponds, a contaminated industrial site that was remediated and reopened as Open Hearth Park in 2013.

Monika Dutt (NDP) — Dutt was a physician with training in both public health and family medicine. She held a medical degree from Queen's University and a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Based in Cape Breton, she practised as a family physician and had served as a medical officer of health, bringing a health policy perspective to the campaign.

John Douglas Chiasson (Conservative) — Chiasson carried the Conservative standard in a riding that had been solidly Liberal for over a decade.

Adrianna MacKinnon (Green Party) — MacKinnon ran for the Greens, adding an environmental voice to the Cape Breton race.

About the Riding

Sydney—Victoria is a riding shaped by economic transition. The closure of the Sydney steel plant and coke ovens left behind both environmental contamination and high unemployment that persisted well into the 2010s. The $400-million tar ponds cleanup, jointly funded by Ottawa and the province, was completed by 2013, transforming the former industrial site into public parkland. By 2015, the riding's economic hopes rested on the growing cruise ship industry at the Port of Sydney, tourism along the Cabot Trail — one of Canada's most celebrated scenic drives — and Cape Breton University, which was expanding its international student enrollment. Victoria County's economy leaned on small-scale farming, fishing, and the seasonal tourism trade. Baddeck, once home to Alexander Graham Bell's estate, remained a popular heritage destination. High unemployment, outmigration of young people, and the need for federal economic development spending were the central issues facing the riding as voters went to the polls.