Provincial budget cuts a common issue in new Cape Breton electoral district

Provincial budget cuts have emerged as an early issue in the byelection race in the newly created Nova Scotia constituency of Chéticamp-Margarees-Pleasant Bay.

Nominations closed last week and all four candidates are talking about the Progressive Conservative government’s decision to reduce spending this year.

The Liberal Party’s Denis Cormier says the province has cut funding for arts, culture and tourism, which are important aspects of life in the region.

“The direction that the present government is taking is really worrisome,” the longtime teacher and guidance counsellor told CBC host Steve Sutherland on Monday during a roundtable discussion on Information Morning Cape Breton.

“We’re seeing cutbacks on many fronts in tourism. But it’s not only the cutbacks in tourism. It’s the cutbacks in infrastructure.”

Cormier said the riding needs better roads and more cellphone towers.

The province created the new protected riding, which will become the 56th seat in the legislature, to improve representation for Acadians following a 2024 Supreme Court ruling.

The NDP’s Trevor Poirier, a long-term care worker in Chéticamp, said constituents are raising concerns about housing and affordability, and those in the cultural sector are worried about reduced funding from the province, which is spilling over into other sectors of the local economy.

“Whether they’ll be having festivals or theatres or dances, it’s all uncertain right now, so that’s a major concern for our tourism business here as well,” he said.

The Houston government reversed some of the cuts following backlash from voters, but maintained that many would continue.

‘No different than a business,’ says PC candidate

PC candidate Claude Bourgeois, a mechanic and owner of C. Bourgeois Diesel Services and former owner of the Doryman Pub, defended the government’s budget as necessary.

“A lot of the cuts they made were not totally cuts,” he said. “They were just reductions where the party had upped the ante and gave them more money and just took some of it back.”

Bourgeois said constituents are talking about the budget, but sometimes communication helps them understand why the province needed to take action.

“It’s no different than running a business or running your own finances at home,” he said.

“At some point you have to make changes. And I wasn’t in government then. I’m just trusting that they’ve made what I would have probably agreed to do at the same table as them.

“It’s just a matter of explaining. It’s notifying the public of what you’ve done and being transparent.”

Bourgeois also said roads take a long time to wear down and they take a long time to fix. He also said the government had one cell tower built in the area last year and two more are slated for construction this year.

Green candidate Nik Boisvert, an arts worker who has run federally twice, said the cuts directly affect jobs and took direct aim at Bourgeois’s comments by pointing out the government’s penchant for spending outside the budget.

Voters already casting ballots

“If this business had a $7-billion deficit, I highly doubt anyone would think it was a well-run business,” Boisvert said.

In a news release Monday, Elections Nova Scotia said 397 ballots had already been cast by Saturday, which represents about 10 per cent of the 3,923 registered voters.

Constituents can vote at the returning office in Grand Étang and at community polls Thursday to Saturday, June 11-13, at St. Patrick’s Parish Hall in East Margaree and at the Whale Interpretive Centre in Pleasant Bay.

The final day for voting is June 23.

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