Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a full day of activities scheduled Friday in Sydney, Nova Scotia, out there on the northeast tip of beautiful Cape Breton. As many local Liberals told us when press gallery journalists were in Cape Breton over the summer for the annual Liberal summer caucus meeting, Harper has never, in his five years as prime minister, visited that part of Nova Scotia. We later had that confirmed with the PMO.
Still, better late than never, and so the curious will want to head to the Sydney Marine Terminal where Harper will hold a photo op at 12:40 pm (Atlantic time), followed by a press conference at 1 pm; and a reception and speech at 5 p.m. He'll also squeeze in a roundtable discussion with local business leaders at 3:30 pm at Cape Breton Beverages Ltd.
The local MP in Sydney is Liberal Mark Eyking who has been pressing the federal government to help chip in to the cost of dredging Sydney Harbour. This expensive project is seen as a key to local economic development because making the harbour deeper will allow it to handle bigger cargo and passenger ships.
If I were a betting man, I suspect that, given the location of the event — right on the harbour — and the fact that Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter will also be in attendance for the 1 p.m. announcement, Cape Bretoners are about to learn that the feds and the province are ready to fund that dredging project. (The feds, incidentally, have paid for dredging projects on the Fraser River on Canada's West Coast, a project with similarly important local economic development implications.)
The trip to Cape Breton is also going to feature a whole lot of one Peter MacKay, the MP from just across the Canso Causeway in the riding of Central Nova. MacKay is the regional minister for Nova Scotia so it's entirely normal for him to attend. But there are still those here in Ottawa — and probably in Nova Scotia — who are wondering about his commitment to staying on as an MP. The Globe and Mail last month, citing unnamed sources, said he was considering leaving politics for a Bay Street law firm. MacKay, speaking on the record, quickly denied those reports.
A few days later, at the NATO Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, I noted that MacKay and Harper seemed to be getting along famously. I suspect that part of the rationale behind tomorrow's event will also be to demonstrate to Nova Scotians and Cape Bretoners that MacKay and the prime minister continue to have a strong relationship.
Finally: While the next general election is unlikely to be decided in Nova Scotia, there are a couple of seats in that province in play and, even Liberals in the riding concede, there is an outside chance one of those might be Eyking's. The scenario that puts his seat in play would be one in which the Conservatives appear headed for a majority and Eyking could get caught in a “blue sweep” through the country. The Conservatives have a nominated candidate in that riding – who no doubt will be at one or all of the events tomorrow — named Cecil Clarke, who is currently the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Cape Breton North. Both Tories and Liberals believe Clarke is a more credible threat to Eyking than the challengers Eyking has faced down before.
No one believes that the Liberal representing the other half of Cape Breton, Rodger Cuzner, is likely to lose his seat in any scenario.
The other riding in play in the province, though, is West Nova where rookie MP Greg Kerr beat Liberal incumbent Robert Thibeault. Thibeault wants a re-match and both Tories and Liberals believe they'll have a fight on their hands there in the next election. Harper's day of politicking, then, in Cape Breton will be done with an eye towards the fight in West Nova and a potential one in Eyking's riding of Sydney-Victoria.
Thought I'd normally use any excuse for a visit to Cape Breton, I won't be there tomorrow but I'd love to hear from anyone who is attending to send along some colour and flavour.
