06 Jun Not quite fisticuffs as youth and veteran clash

A spirited CBC Radio forum for candidates in Cape Breton South last Thursday degenerated into a shouting match in the back parking lot of CBC  Sydney after the show.

Feisty Liberal veteran Manning MacDonald and earnest NDP up-and-comer Wayne MacKay nearly came to blows after MacDonald took umbrage at suggestions he was an absentee MP.

The debate itself, on CBC-Cape Breton’s Information Morning, featured a generational clash as MacDonald, 66, defended attacks from MacKay, 34, and Tory Stephen Tobin, 25, both teachers (sort of). Cathy Theriault of the Greens, a one-time Marijuana Party candidate, also took part.

MacDonald was the longest serving mayor in Sydney’s history before turning to provincial politics in 1993. Widely regarded as unbeatable, he has won five straight elections, most recently by 1,122 votes in 2003.

In contrarian’s not altogether humble opinion, MacDonald has been a pretty good MLA, shrewdly cultivating traditional power bases in the constituency while taking sensible policy positions, and avoiding partisan cheap shots, on local issues. But he sounds tired in this debate against younger challengers, and the impression deepens each time he boasts of his youthful vigor.

MacKay successfully portrayed him as out of touch with younger voters and the community’s culture and fitness communities, an impression somewhat undercut by a gratuitous cheap shot from Tobin at the session’s end. MacDonald is almost certain to hold the seat, albeit by a smaller margin, but it may be time for him to think about retirement.