Cape Breton Centre & Victoria-The Lakes
Check out our riding profiles for useful information.
MAJOR CENTRES :
New Waterford, Dominion, Lingan, Reserve Mines, River Ryan, New Victoria, South Bar, and part of Grand Lake Road.
SQ. KM : 135 POPULATION : 13,156
HISTORIC TRENDS:
In the 2009 election, Frank Corbett captured the riding for the New Democratic Party before once again winning the seat in the 2013 election. Corbett resigned in 2015, which then saw the riding change to the Liberals when David Wilton won the byelection in July 2015.
ECONOMY:
Cape Breton Centre's biggest industry was coal mining until the early 2000s.
IMPORTANCE IN THE ELECTION:
The riding was represented by Progressive Conservative Mike Laffin from 1963 to 1974, before James "Buddy" MacEachern won the seat for the NDP from 19741981. It switched back to the PCs with Laffin claiming the seat from 1981 to 1988. The Liberals took the riding for the next 10 years with Wayne Connors and Russell MacNeil winning between 1988 to 1998. The riding would then turn NDP orange for the next 14 years with Frank Corbett as its MLA. He served as deputy premier under the Darrell Dexter government. Since 2015 the riding has been held by Liberal David Wilton.
TRIVIA:
Since 1981 the riding has been held by someone from the New Waterford area including Mike Laffin (PC), Wayne Connors (LIB), Russell MacNeil (LIB), Frank Corbett (NDP), and David Wilton (LIB). Changes to the ridings electoral boundary were made in September 2012, expanding Cape Breton Centre to include South Bar, Lingan Road as well as part of Grand Lake Road, formerly part of the now-defunct constituency of Cape Breton Nova.