Cape Breton—Canso

Cape Breton—Canso stretches across the western, southern, and eastern coasts of Cape Breton Island and into the mainland, encompassing all of Antigonish County and eastern Guysborough County. Major communities include Glace Bay, Inverness, Chéticamp, Louisbourg, Port Hawkesbury, Canso, and St. Peters. The riding had a population of approximately 75,100 in the 2021 census, spread across roughly 9,400 square kilometres.

Candidates

Mike Kelloway (Liberal) was the incumbent, first elected in 2019 as successor to long-serving MP Rodger Cuzner. Raised in a working-class family in Glace Bay—his father was a coal miner in the deep mines—Kelloway earned a Bachelor of Community Studies from Cape Breton University and a graduate degree in Education from the University of Calgary. Before entering politics, he worked as a youth worker, business owner, lecturer at Cape Breton University, and special project administrator at Nova Scotia Community College. He co-founded Bay It Forward, a grassroots initiative to revitalize Glace Bay through civic engagement and business development.

Fiona MacLeod (Conservative) emigrated from Scotland to Nova Scotia in 1968 and graduated from St. Francis Xavier University. She spent more than 30 years working in Ottawa within federal departments, the House of Commons, and the Senate, including early-career positions in the offices of Progressive Conservative MP Pat Nowlan and Mulroney-era cabinet minister Stewart McInnes. Though a first-time candidate, MacLeod brought extensive knowledge of federal government operations. Her husband’s family has operated tourism businesses in Inverness County for over 50 years.

Jana Reddick (NDP) was born and raised in Glace Bay and was 29 years old at the time of the election. She held a diploma in Child and Youth Work from NSCC and a degree in Community Studies from Cape Breton University, and was pursuing a degree in Social Work. Reddick worked as a career practitioner assisting people seeking employment and previously served as a youth counsellor at a residential group home. A 2019 breast cancer diagnosis and the resulting medication costs motivated her entry into politics.

Brad Grandy (PPC) ran as the People’s Party of Canada candidate in the riding.

About the Riding

Cape Breton—Canso is a predominantly rural riding defined by its coastline, its resource-extraction heritage, and the ongoing challenge of economic transition. For generations, coal mining was the backbone of communities like Glace Bay and Dominion, but the last of the island’s deep mines closed decades ago, and the Donkin mine—reopened by Kameron Collieries—shut permanently in March 2020 after rockfall accidents and plunging international coal prices, laying off 140 workers. Unemployment on Cape Breton has averaged roughly 14 percent over the past two decades, and the island’s population declined by 13 percent between 2001 and 2021.

The riding’s economy has diversified into tourism, small business, call centres, and some manufacturing. The Cabot Trail, the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, and the Celtic Colours International Music Festival draw visitors from around the world. The Strait of Canso area around Port Hawkesbury hosts industrial operations including a paper mill. Healthcare access was a dominant local issue heading into 2021, with residents facing long emergency-room wait times and physician shortages. Affordable housing, out-migration of young people, and broadband connectivity in rural areas were also key concerns. Chéticamp and parts of Inverness County are home to a significant Acadian francophone community, while Potlotek and other Mi’kmaw communities maintain a strong Indigenous presence in the riding.