SYDNEY, N.S. — CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke says he will make an announcement on his political future sometime next week.
Speculation as to whether the two-term Cape Breton Regional Municipality mayor will seek re-election has been ongoing for the past couple of years. However, with the Oct. 17 municipal election now less than 10 weeks away, the question of whether Clarke will run again has returned to the forefront of discussion regarding the upcoming vote.
“All I can say right now is that there will be an announcement next week,” he responded Tuesday when asked about his plans.
But when informed that rumours were swirling that a campaign manager had already been selected, Clarke did not deny it and only smiled.
To date, only North Sydney resident and 1990 Sydney mayoral candidate Chris Abbass has publicly declared his intention to seek the mayor’s chair. The names of several other potential candidates have been bandied about, but so far no one else has stepped forward.
But there's still time.
All I can say right now is that there will be an announcement next week. — Cecil Clarke
Official nomination day is Tuesday, Sept. 8, when papers can be filed with the returning officer between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. However, candidates wishing to submit their nomination papers prior to that can do so by appointment only from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4. The deadline to name an official agent is also Sept. 8.
Meanwhile, there is plenty of action on the councillor front if the early placement of signs is any indication.
Four candidates have already made it known they are interested in District 12, an area mostly comprised of Whitney Pier and long held by Jim MacLeod.
District 6, which mainly includes a number of Sydney residential areas, also has attracted the attention of several candidates.
There will be at least four districts up for grabs in which the incumbent is not seeking re-election. District 12’s Kendra Coombes resigned her seat in March after being elected as an NDP MLA in the provincial House of Assembly, District 6’s Ray Paruch passed away in April and veteran councillors George MacDonald and Clarence Prince have already announced they will not be seeking re-election in Districts 8 and 1 respectively.
In the 2016 CBRM mayoral election, Clarke received 22,240 votes to the 20,909 ballots cast for Rankin MacSween. Just over 53 per cent of the CBRM’s 81,388 eligible voters cast a ballot.
Clarke also defeated MacSween in the 2012 election when he won by almost 10,000 votes. Elizabeth Barrie, Glenn Jessome and Wilf Isaac also contested the mayor’s chair that year.
