By Andrew Macdonald
MacPolitics: Somehow I Doubt Tim Houston and Antigonish’s Sean Cameron Celebrated My Birthday, When They Had A Lunch This Week
By Andrew Macdonald
In the Town of Antigonish, a locale famous for its gossip rumour mill – and mostly, denizens get it wrong.
God, they even think I work at Frank – a job I left two decades ago to become a business and political writer.
But, now tongues are wagging in my boyhood town about a lunch at an eatery in Little Rome, between NS Progressive Conservative leader, Tim Houston & newly elected Antigonish town councillor, Sean Cameron.
They met in a very public venue, an eatery on Nov. 16th, of this week, the day I moved closer to the age of 55 – making me two years younger than Premier Stephen McNeil.
I checked Saturday with the PC caucus leader’s spokesperson, Cal MacLellan, for the nature of the meeting. “Hey Andrew, you can reach out to the party for comment, but private meetings are not typically discussed publicly”.
So I checked with PC party executive director Jim David, again on Saturday. “Hi Andrew – I am away from the office and unable to reach out to Tim (Houston). Comments from Catherine (Klimek) and Cal are appropriate” – he refers to the two caucus spokespersons.
So I am left to speculate, given the runaround. I doubt, Houston and Cameron gathered to fete my birthday, On Nov. 16th, over my now choice of drink: a glass of water and a lemon wedge.
No, siree, they were likely meeting over the very real possibility, Cameron will go on to become a Team Tim Ticket contender for the provincial Tories in Antigonish.
Last October, Cameron had the third-highest vote in the town’s election, he received 1,012 ballots cast in his favour to again go back as a town councilor.
Now there is a significant political school of thought suggesting Cameron would be an ideal contender on Houston ticket in the next NS race.
Whether he will run for the Tories as Antigonish MLA has yet to be determined.
For the record, Cameron did not respond to my media questions on his meeting with Houston, which is the talk of the town.
Did Houston meet Cameron for a nice lunch date to encourage his candidacy?
What I can report on this score, is that his name has been mentioned by several of the insiders surrounding Houston.
And, Cameron’s brother, now retired Truro stockbroker, Ray Cameron, recently told The Notebook: “I have been encouraging him to do so (to run for Houston)”.
In the lead up to October’s vote, just last summer, in Antigonish there had been wide speculation Cameron was considering lining up to oppose Antigonish Mayor Laurie Boucher’s attempt for a second term.
Cameron did not mount a second attempt at the mayor’s job – instead, Boucher was acclaimed for the town’s top elected post.
Cameron instead sought election of a sure safe town council seat.
He narrowly lost his 2016 bid to serve as mayor, a tight loss of just 21 votes as Boucher led the ballots during that municipal race to become mayor.
Sean Cameron lost the Antigonish 2016 mayoralty vote by 21 ballots. He is now being encouraged to run for the NS PC Team Tim Houston ticket in Antigonish, following his strong vote win in October’s municipal vote – taking the third-highest votes on Antigonish Town Council.
Tory organizer Irene MacLeod also ran for town mayor that year and was way back in the third spot.
Cameron did not ask for a vote count in 2016.
Cameron cut his teeth as a 1983 Brian Mulroney organizer – when he was a youth in the PC party, during the by-election that year, where voters in Central Nova put Mulroney into Parliament, and he would go on to serve two historic terms as PC prime minister from 1984-1992.
Cameron is now in his late 50s.
Cameron comes from a long line of influential Tories in Antigonish – he is part of what the late musician and undertaker James MacPherson – who died young at age 68 three years ago this month – coined the OAF factor in the town.
MacPherson told me once that stood for Old Antigonish Family, and that town establishment vote is a large voting constituency Cameron succeeded in tapping for his council win on Saturday.
But, Antigonish is not a town of the establishment any more – the OAF factor not as significant as it once was for life in Little Rome.
Cameron’s day job is as a toiler with Community Services.
This picture was taken when Brian Mulroney won the 1983 Tory leadership contest. He is with Mila. Sean Cameron was an early supporter of Mulroney when he ran and won a seat in Central Nova in 1983. This photo is on display at Mulroney Hall.
A candidacy by Cameron would have to worry incumbent two term MLA Randy Delorey, who won his second term as a Liberal, by 300 so votes. Delorey is running for the NS Liberal leadership, a race to be decided in Feb. 2021.
Had his then Tory 2017 opponent, Ray Mattie, not campaigned with hair down to his shoulders, he might have narrowed the vote margin, as this is a town with small ‘c’ conservative thinking.
Cameron has proven time and again, he can win elections – but the idea he met with Houston just two days after being sworn in as a town councillor, will be a significant factor.
While Cameron has the stuff to campaign, will voters who just sent him to town council vote for his provincial ambitions, or will voters spell a political opportunism.
Time will tell.
