01 May Introducing the new Cecil Clarke – it’s Gerald Sampson!

Here’s a bit of inside baseball, of interest only to hard core Cape Breton political junkies and residents of Cape Breton North and Victoria – The Lakes.

When the federal election got underway last month, local tongues wagged and eyebrows fluttered at news that twice-defeated one-term Liberal MLA Gerald Sampson was campaigning for Harper Guy Cecil Clarke. Sampson has not exactly been a hot political property since he publicly condemned Victoria County voters as “liars” following his first defeat in 2006. Nevertheless, this was a prominent lifelong Liberal working for a CPC candidate.

Aye, but here’s the rub: Cecil’s campaign workers are abuzz with disquiet over informed speculation that Sampson will seek the Conservative nomination for the Cape Breton North provincial seat Cecil was required by law to vacate when he filed his candidacy for the federal election in Sydney-Victoria.

Sampson has a knack for winning nominations, matched only by his recent penchant for losing elections. Improbable as victory in the as yet unscheduled byelection might seem, three more years’ service in the legislature would qualify him for a key personal goal: the lucrative MLA’s pension. Somehow this worthy charitable cause has failed to inspire Sampson’s newfound bedfellows in the Conservative campaign.

North Sydney physiotherapist Eddy Orel will also contest the Tory nomination, and common sense dictates he’s the likelier and more sensible choice. But Sampson has surprised party insiders before.