MARTINIQUE - In the dying days of an election campaign far different from her first, independent candidate Alana Paon sees her mission as twofold: offer Richmond voters an alternative from what she describes as a "toxic" partisan culture in Province House, and set the record straight about her 2019 dismissal from the Progressive Conservative caucus. 

Elected in 2017 to the riding of Cape Breton-Richmond, which at the time also included the Town of Port Hawkesbury and several communities in the southeastern Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Paon was described as a "giant-killer" for her 21-vote margin of victory over Liberal Michel Samson, who had held various incarnations of the riding for the past 19 years and had served several portfolios in the governments of Liberal Premiers Russell MacLellan and Stephen McNeil. 

While Paon took on multiple shadow-cabinet duties under PC Leaders Jamie Baillie and his replacement, Tim Houston, her time as MLA took a sharp turn as a result of a prolonged squabble with the Office of the Speaker of the House of Assembly over the question of accessibility issues at her main constituency office in St. Peter's. While a wheelchair ramp had been installed in 2018, the Speaker's Office contended that delays on paving the adjacent parking lot rendered the building inaccessible for many. Houston ejected Paon from the party caucus midway through 2019, citing the constituency office dispute as part of a "pattern of behaviour" that he could no longer tolerate. 

Without naming Houston or the PCs, Paon told TELILE 24/7 host/producer Adam Cooke that her first two years in a provincial party caucus often frustrated her, citing what she described as the need to receive party approval before asking a question in the House of Assembly.

Today, as she strives to retain her MLA status for a riding that now begins and ends with the Richmond County boundaries, Paon is hoping that her commitment to erasing "injustice and inequity" for both local residents and elected officials alike will encourage Richmond voters to place their trust in her for a second straight election.