Macsween set to run for mayor; Clarke ‘seriously considering’ entering race
SYDNEY — John Morgan’s unexpected departure from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality mayoralty race has opened the door for other candidates to step forward.
It is expected that today, Rankin MacSween, president of community development corporation New Dawn Enterprises, will announce his candidacy. Meanwhile, former MLA Cecil Clarke says he’s “seriously considering” the proposition.
Mayoral candidates must declare their intention to run in this year’s fall election by Sept. 11.
“This week is probably the most critical week in the mayoralty race,” said Cape Breton University political scientist Tom Urbaniak. “Probably by the end of this week we’ll have a good sense of who are the main contenders.”
On Monday, the Sydney Area Chamber of Commerce invited residents to join MacSween for an election announcement today at 11 a.m. at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion in Sydney.
Phone calls to MacSween were not returned Monday.
“He is widely recognized and he is seen as a hopeful and inspiring figure,” said Urbaniak. “So he will automatically catapult himself into the rung of the top-tier candidates. There may even be a somewhat of a dissuasive effect on other potential high-profile candidates.”
Just over a week ago, Morgan announced he won’t re-offer for the October election, which Urbaniak says has put pressure on other candidates to organize quickly.
If Morgan announced his intentions earlier, more candidates might have come forward, Urbaniak said.
“The level of support that John has continued to enjoy would have discouraged the number of people from coming forward,” said Cape Breton-Canso MP Rodger Cuzner. “It’s a gamechanger and we’ll just see.”
While he has no plans to run for mayor, Cuzner hopes someone will come forward in the next few weeks with a four-year strategy that will address how the municipality will deal with its approximately $100-million deficit, its municipal tax rate and infrastructure demands.
Clarke, the former Cape Breton North MLA who ran an unsuccessful campaign in the riding of Sydney-Victoria in the last federal election, said Monday he’s doing some serious soulsearching about whether or not to run for mayor.
“Over the last two weeks I’ve been contacted constantly, in person and by phone and email, and so in the last couple of days I’ve been seriously considering it,” said Clarke.
“It hadn’t been something that I’d been looking at because of just being focused on other career pursuits and activity,” he added.
Clarke said he must consult family and friends, adding he hasn’t made any formal decision at this point.
According to Urbaniak, another political figure who could come forward is current District 8 Coun. Ray Paruch.
Paruch, who was unavailable Monday due to involvement in the Canada 55-plus Games, has already announced his intentions to run as councillor in the municipality’s new District 6.
Meanwhile, Owen Fitzgerald, executive director of Unama’ki Economic Benefits Office, declared himself as a mayoral candidate back in late May.
“There is a real risk for Owen Fitzgerald that he will be squeezed out,” said Urbaniak. “He sort of presented himself as the consensus candidate, the new approach candidate and the consultation candidate, but there weren’t a lot of specifics.”
Urbaniak said both Fitzgerald and MacSween will have to bring forward policy platforms in order to gain support from constituents.
He said an asset for MacSween has been his recent criticism of Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. executive director John Lynn regarding port development.
“The fact that Rankin MacSween was seen as being on the opposite side of John Lynn and ECBC is, in the first instance, an asset in the campaign. He can say ‘ Look, I’m not one of the establishment’ and that’s very critical for any mayoral candidate, I think. And certainly that’s part of the legacy that John Morgan left too.”