Re-Elected Liberal MP Defends Timing Of Election

GLACE BAY - Days after a federal election that was widely criticized and resulted in nearly-identical party standings, the newly re-elected Liberal MP for Cape Breton-Canso is defending his Prime Minister's decision to call the vote even as the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was taking root across Canada and around the world. 

Mike Kelloway was returned as the riding's federal presentative with a tally of 17,348 votes, or 46.3 per cent of the popular vote. In doing so, the former Nova Scotia Community College executive bested his totals from the 2019 election, when he chalked up 16,694 votes, representing 38.9 per cent of the popular vote. 

However, Kelloway's campaign and that of the Liberal Party of Canada was criticized locally and nationally for its timing, with many political opponents, commentators and ordinary Canadians suggesting that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the September 20 election in the hopes of boosting the Liberal administration from minority to majority status. 

Speaking to TELILE 24/7 host-producer Adam Cooke three days after his election victory, Kelloway once again defended the early election call and, as he had stated during a candidates' debate held in Port Hawkesbury on September 10, insisted that opposition MPs - specifically, the Conservatives - had rendered Parliament unworkable and forced the Prime Minister's hand. 

"In my opinion, the last term - especially in May and June - got very, very obstructionist, not by the NDP or the Bloc, but by the Conservatives," Kelloway insisted. 

"We have the opportunity to continue to do good work, to continue the 'art of the possible' in a minority government, and the government will do what it can to make that happen. But it will be up to the opposition to put a little water in their wine, as well...Don't look for five, or ten, or twenty, or a hundred ways not to do something. Find ways to do something."

Although Kelloway ruled out a formal coalition between his Liberals and the NDP, he was optimistic that his government will find ways to work with MPs around the House of Commons to govern Canada smoothly through the latest minority mandate.