Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish

Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish (formerly Cape Breton—Canso) is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. Its population in 2011 was 75,247. It is the successor to Bras d'Or (later known as Bras d'Or—Cape Breton), which was represented in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2004.

Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish

Nova Scotia electoral district
Cape Breton—Canso from the 2015 federal election to 2025 Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish from the 2025 federal election Interactive map of riding boundaries
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Jaime Battiste Liberal
District created	1996
First contested	1997
Last contested	2025
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2021)[1]	71,380
Electors (2025)[2]	64,263
Area (km²)[1]	9,308
Pop. density (per km²)	7.7
Census subdivision(s)	Cape Breton (part), Antigonish, Inverness, Richmond, Victoria, Antigonish, Guysborough, Eskasoni, Port Hawkesbury, Whycocomagh

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
2001	75,221	—
2006	71,968	−4.3%
2011 (2003 redist.)	68,435	−4.9%
2011 (2015 redist.)	74,597	+9.0%
2016	71,962	−3.5%

From the 2016 census^[3]

Languages (mother tongue): 90.8% English, 6.5% French, 1.2% Mi'kmaq, 0.4% German, 0.2% Dutch, 0.1%Mandarin, 0.1% Arabic, 0.1% Scottish Gaelic, 0.1% Tagalog^[4]

Average age: 46.4

Average household size: 2.3

Geography

The district includes eastern Guysborough County, and the western, southern and eastern coasts of Cape Breton Island. Communities include Glace Bay, Louisbourg, Inverness, Chéticamp, St. Peters, Port Hawkesbury, Mulgrave, Guysborough, Dominion and Canso. The area is 9,438 km^{2[citation needed]}.

Political geography

In 2008, the Liberals won most of their support on Cape Breton Island, whereas the mainland portion of the riding voted Conservative with a few Liberal and NDP pockets The Conservatives and the NDP both won a small handful of polls on the island, and the Greens won a poll containing Judique.

History

The riding of Bras d'Or was created in 1996 from parts of Cape Breton Highlands—Canso and Cape Breton—East Richmond ridings.

Bras d'Or was renamed "Bras d'Or—Cape Breton" in 1998. It was abolished in 2003. Most of its territory (except for the community of Sydney River) was incorporated into a new riding called "Cape Breton—Canso", and it also added a portion of Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough on the mainland.

Under the 2012 federal electoral redistribution, this riding gained 9% of its new territory from Central Nova.

Following the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution, this riding was largely replaced by Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish. It gained the remainder of Antigonish County from Central Nova, and exchanged territory with Sydney—Victoria, gaining Victoria, the remainder of Inverness and the rural western part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, and lost the urban part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality from Sydney Forks to Morien, including the Glace Bay area.^[5] These changes came into effect upon the calling of the 2025 Canadian federal election.

Members of Parliament

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Bras d'Or Riding created from Cape Breton Highlands—Canso and Cape Breton—East Richmond
36th	1997–2000		Michelle Dockrill	New Democratic
Bras d'Or—Cape Breton
37th	2000–2004		Rodger Cuzner	Liberal
Cape Breton—Canso
38th	2004–2006		Rodger Cuzner	Liberal
39th	2006–2008
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2015
42nd	2015–2019
43rd	2019–2021		Mike Kelloway
44th	2021–2025
Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish
45th	2025–present		Jaime Battiste	Liberal

Election results

Graph of election results in Bras d'Or, Bras d'Or–Cape Breton, Cape Breton—Canso (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish

v t e 2025 Canadian federal election
** Preliminary results — Not yet official **
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jaime Battiste	23,489	51.32	+5.89
	Conservative	Allan MacMaster	19,900	43.48	+8.37
	New Democratic	Joanna Clark	1,838	4.02	–10.73
	People's	Ryan Smyth	321	0.70	–3.25
	Independent	Rebecca Wall	222	0.49	N/A
Total valid votes/expense limit
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			45,770	71.24
Eligible voters			64,251
	Liberal notional hold		Swing		–1.24
Source: Elections Canada[6][7]

2021 federal election redistributed results[8]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	19,259	45.43
	Conservative	14,882	35.11
	New Democratic	6,252	14.75
	People's	1,676	3.95
	Green	206	0.49
	Others	116	0.27

Cape Breton—Canso

Graph of election results in Cape Breton—Canso (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

2021

2021 election by polling area

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Mike Kelloway	18,288	46.46	+7.58	$84,296.86
	Conservative	Fiona MacLeod	13,805	35.07	+0.55	$87,677.71
	New Democratic	Jana Reddick	5,618	14.27	-0.53	$7,070.64
	People's	Brad Grandy	1,649	4.19	+2.04	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			39,360	99.19	+0.57	$107,460.21
Total rejected ballots			350	0.81	-0.57
Turnout			39,710	65.57	-6.13
Registered voters			60,559
	Liberal hold		Swing		+3.52
Source: Elections Canada[9][10]

2019

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Mike Kelloway	16,694	38.88	-35.51	none listed
	Conservative	Alfie MacLeod	14,821	34.52	+20.07	$99,102.26
	New Democratic	Laurie Suitor	6,354	14.80	+6.59	none listed
	Green	Clive Doucet	3,321	7.73	+4.77	$23,886.83
	People's	Billy Joyce[11]	925	2.15	-	$0.00
	Independent	Michelle Dockrill	685	1.60	-	none listed
	National Citizens Alliance	Darlene Lynn LeBlanc	140	0.33	-	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			42,940	98.62		$102,831.89
Total rejected ballots			601	1.38	+0.75
Turnout			43,541	71.73	+0.15
Eligible voters			60,699
	Liberal hold		Swing		-27.79
Source: Elections Canada[12]

2015

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	32,163	74.39	+30.29	$69,357.97
	Conservative	Adam Daniel Rodgers	6,246	14.45	–18.17	$36,970.92
	New Democratic	Michelle Smith	3,547	8.20	–11.84	$3,803.75
	Green	Maria Goretti Coady	1,281	2.96	–0.28	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			43,237	99.37		$205,381.80
Total rejected ballots			274	0.63
Turnout			43,511	71.58
Eligible voters			60,785
	Liberal hold		Swing		+24.23
Source: Elections Canada[13][14]

2011 federal election redistributed results[15]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	17,196	44.10
	Conservative	12,719	32.62
	New Democratic	7,818	20.05
	Green	1,265	3.24

2011

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	16,478	46.45	-1.65	$63,928.72
	Conservative	Clarence Derrick Kennedy	10,873	30.65	+7.15	$75,474.80
	New Democratic	Marney Simmons	6,984	19.69	-1.43	$2,528.46
	Green	Glen Carabin	1,141	3.22	-4.06	$346.95
Total valid votes/expense limit			35,476	100.0		$83,274.40
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			336	0.94	+0.14
Turnout			35,812	62.47	-0.84
Eligible voters			57,331
	Liberal hold		Swing		-4.40
Sources:[16][17]

2008

v t e 2008 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	17,447	48.10	-5.09	$35,405.44
	Conservative	Allan Murphy	8,524	23.50	-0.68	$51,511.90
	New Democratic	Mark MacNeill	7,660	21.12	+0.98	$6,483.40
	Green	Dwayne MacEachern	2,641	7.28	+4.78	$5,315.05
Total valid votes/expense limit			36,272	100.0		$80,776
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			292	0.80	+0.09
Turnout			36,564	63.31	-3.21
Eligible voters			57,753
	Liberal hold		Swing		-2.20

2006

v t e 2006 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	21,424	53.19	-0.07	$62,038.40
	Conservative	Kenzie MacNeil	9,740	24.18	+3.94	$47,590.43
	New Democratic	Hector Morrison	8,111	20.14	-4.18	$7,662.93
	Green	Rob Hines	1,006	2.50	+0.33	$323.17
Total valid votes/expense limit			40,281	100.0		$76,321
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			288	0.71	-0.24
Turnout			40,569	66.52	+2.72
Eligible voters			60,984
	Liberal hold		Swing		-2.00

2004

v t e 2004 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	20,139	53.26	-0.33	$63,078.17
	New Democratic	Shirley Hartery	9,197	24.32	+5.44	$21,160.51
	Conservative	Kenzie MacNeil	7,654	20.24	-7.19	$49,919.36
	Green	Seumas Gibson	820	2.17	–	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			37,810	100.0		$73,856
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			361	0.95
Turnout			38,171	63.80	-3.38
Eligible voters			59,825
	Liberal notional hold		Swing		-2.88
Changes from 2000 are based on redistributed results. Conservative Party change is based on the combination of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party totals.

2000 federal election redistributed results
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	21,200	53.59
	Progressive Conservative	9,291	23.49
	New Democratic	7,469	18.88
	Alliance	1,558	3.94
	Others	42	0.11

Bras d'Or–Cape Breton

2000

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	20,815	54.85	+16.41
	Progressive Conservative	Alfie MacLeod	8,114	21.38	+1.12
	New Democratic	Michelle Dockrill	7,537	19.86	-21.44
	Alliance	John Currie	1,483	3.91	–
Total valid votes			37,949	100.00
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+18.93

Bras d'Or

1997

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Michelle Dockrill	17,575	41.30
	Liberal	David Dingwall	16,358	38.44
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Crowdis	8,620	20.26
Total valid votes			42,553	100.00

See also

• List of Canadian electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada