Sault Ste. Marie

Sault Ste. Marie sits at the rapids of the St. Marys River connecting Lake Superior to Lake Huron, directly across from its American twin city in Michigan. The riding covers the city of Sault Ste. Marie and the surrounding area in the Algoma District, a region of boreal forest, rocky Canadian Shield terrain, and waterways that have made it a transportation hub since the construction of the Sault Locks in the nineteenth century.

Candidates

Terry Sheehan (Liberal) — A Sault Ste. Marie city councillor representing Ward 2 since 2003, Sheehan also served two terms as a school board trustee on the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board. Born and raised in the Sault, he studied political science at Lake Superior State University and worked as an employment and training consultant with the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

Bryan Hayes (Conservative) — The incumbent MP, Hayes was first elected in 2011 when he defeated three-term NDP incumbent Tony Martin. Born in Marville, France, where his father was stationed with the Canadian Armed Forces, Hayes moved to Sault Ste. Marie after graduating from Cambrian College's marketing program and became a Certified General Accountant.

Skip Morrison (NDP) — A crane operator at Essar Steel Algoma and member of United Steelworkers Local 2251, Morrison also worked as a Manulife financial advisor. He held degrees in biology from Queen's University and education from Lakehead University, and had previously taught elementary school and worked in real estate.

Kara Flannigan (Green Party) — A public health inspector who had lived in Sault Ste. Marie for thirty years, Flannigan ran for the Greens in the 2014 provincial election as well. She cited frustration with partisan politics as her motivation for joining the party.

About the Riding

The steel industry has anchored Sault Ste. Marie's economy for over a century, and by 2015 the city's largest private employer, Essar Steel Algoma, was in deepening financial trouble. The company, which employed approximately 2,700 workers, would file for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in November 2015, a crisis that had been looming throughout the campaign. Tenaris, a manufacturer of steel tubes for the oil and gas sector, was the other major industrial employer. Beyond steel, the Sault's economy relied on health care, education through Algoma University and Sault College, tourism, and forestry. The riding had historically been a swing seat, alternating among all three major parties over the preceding decades, and the state of the steel industry dominated campaign debates.