Cape Breton municipal election: Keep an eye on these ridings

Voters will go to the polls in 32 municipal ridings across Cape Breton on Oct. 15. InRichmond County and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, there will beraces in every riding.

District 10 inCape Breton Regional Municipality

The district comprises Dominion, Gardiner Mines and large portions of Glace Bay and Reserve Mines.

Former MLADave Wilsonfiled his nomination papers at the last minute to enter a race with long-time former councillor Darren Bruckschwaiger and businessman Brian Shaw.

Wilson resigned as the MLA for Glace Bay in 2010 due to a gambling addiction, whichled him to defraud the province of $61,000 to support his habit resulting in fourmonths injail.

Claiming that his addiction has been dealt withthrough extensive counselling, Wilsonsaid he wants people to give him a second chance.He is now a community radio broadcaster.

For Bruckschwaiger, who served on council for24 years, this could be seen as a second chance, as well.

He resigned his seat suddenly in September 2014 to take a job out west as a labourer. He said he made the decision for financial reasons.

After working in FortMcMurrayfor 18 months, hereturned to Dominion, saying he had achieved his financial goalsand was now home for good even if he didn't win political office.

Brian Shaw is the new face in the contest, but he's well-known in the business community as themanager of twoPharmasavestores.

Darrell Flynn of Glace Bay was the councillor for the riding,butdied in July after suffering frompnuemonia.

District 2 in Cape Breton Regional Municipality

District 2, which includes most of North Sydney and some surrounding rural communities, could see some sparks fly during the election campaign.

The sale by CBRM of a prominent downtown North Sydney property known as Archibald's Wharf caused a great deal of controversy.Hundreds of local people were upset the land was sold to Canadian Maritime Engineering Ltd. to expand its dry dock.

Opponents argued it was approvedby municipal council without a proper public hearing.Earlene MacMullin of North Sydney, a candidate in this election, was one of the most vocal opponents of the process. She works with Marine Atlanticin North Sydney.

There are five other hopefuls in District 2:

• Bill MacDonald the owner of MacDonald'sDenture Clinic in North Sydney.
• Diane Power works for Bell Aliantand is also actively involved in the Nova Scotia Home and School Association, and the Canadian Home and School Federation.
• Clayton Smith is a continuing care assistant.
• Lloyd Wilkie is retired from Marine Atlanticand last served as terminal manager.
• Wally March is a commissionaire.

District 2 (D'Escousse/West Arichat) in the Municipality of Richmond County

This riding gained prominence in recent times because of some bad blood over issues such as:

• The number of councillors was reduced tofivefrom 10.
• There was theattempted blackmail of councillor Steve Sampson over a phone call he made to an escort service while on municipal business.
• A battle ensuedover whether to conduct a forensic audit of municipal spending. In the end, council accepted the idea.

Warden Victor David, who was a staunch defender of Richmond maintaining the 10 municipal districts, is running against Nova Scotia power employee MarcelBoudreau, NSCC instructorLarry Keating, Coun.Alvin Martell and Gina Stanley,a physical education teacherwho made headlines earlier this year as she campaigned door-to-doorby bicycle.

Mayor of theCape Breton Regional Municipality

Essentially a rematch of the 2012 vote, Rankin MacSween is seeking to supplant Cecil Clarke as the political leader of CBRM.

MacSween is president of the economic development agency, New Dawn Enterprises. He lost to Clarke by fewer than10,000 votes in 2012.

Back then, Clarke ran on a platform he titled Reorganizational Plan for Positive Change, in which he outlined his vision of social and economic development for the next four years. This time around, his platform contains 100 points he plans to present to council if he is wins again.

• Mayoralty candidates in Cape Breton Regional Municipality make case on campaign trail

It contains suggestions foreverything from growing the economyto making government information more accessible. Barely mentioned is Sydney'sport, which has been a large part of Clarke's strategyfor growing CBRM.

MacSween is countering with a campaign he calls We Can Do Better. He claims Clarke has fallen short of his goal, and questions his methods of trying to achieve commercialization of the harbour, which MacSween sees as less than transparent.

MacSween vows to make harbour development a transparent process if he's elected mayor.