Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay announces his resignation in Stellarton, N.S on Friday, May 29, 2015. MacKay, the MP from the riding of Central Nova, was first elected in 1997.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
In the riding he's represented for 18 years, it's easy to see the hole Peter MacKay's departure will leave in the Conservative Party. It will probably leave some gaps across Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada, too.
Central Nova is one of the most big-C Conservative ridings in Atlantic Canada, ceded to the Liberals only once since its creation in 1966. For 40 of the past 44 years, it's been held by a MacKay, first Elmer, then son Peter, who took the last election with more than 55 per cent of the vote. And people like Peter.
"I love him," Emily Mackenzie, 21, blurted when asked her opinion. The continuing-care assistant from Stellarton, N.S., was walking the Samson Trail in New Glasgow with her boyfriend when they bumped into Mr. MacKay, who stopped for a long talk. Ms. Mackenzie thought he was sweet. But Stephen Harper? She doesn't like him.
It's odd how many say the same kind of thing, in New Glasgow or Pictou. Not Liberals, but those who support Mr. MacKay emphatically, who screw up their faces to describe his boss, the Prime Minister from the same Conservative Party, as "controlling," "arrogant" or a "tyrant."
"I can take him or leave him," Jeff Theakston, 61, said of Mr. Harper. "I find he gets pretty arrogant sometimes." But Mr. Theakston, a Michelin worker who also works part-time at a sport shop, likes Mr. MacKay, who comes into the store. "He's totally the opposite. You can go up to him and talk to him."
People outside the riding don't bump into him as much, but Mr. MacKay was still a politician that people in Nova Scotia, and to a certain extent across Atlantic Canada, felt connected to. That's the loss for the Conservatives now: not just the last leader of the old Progressive Conservatives, but an Atlantic Canadian figure who sent a warmer personal message about the Conservatives' personality. And that's an important counterbalance to Mr. Harper's style, which seems to be wearing thin in the region.
Polls show the Conservatives far behind the Liberals in Atlantic Canada, with Mr. Harper's approval ratings trailing his party, too. In New Glasgow bars and shopping malls, it seems it's a style thing; some like things Mr. Harper has done, but not him. Mr. MacKay was different. And there's no one in Mr. Harper's Atlantic Canada ranks now with his profile, a politician people already feel they know, to fill the gap.
Since Mr. MacKay announced Friday he won't run in the next election, the Liberals are licking their lips. Of the four Conservative MPs in Nova Scotia, Mr. MacKay is the third to bow out. The fourth, Scott Armstrong, faces a stiff challenge from former Conservative MP turned Liberal Bill Casey, whose message is essentially that Mr. Harper doesn't care about people.
"I believe politics is more about people here, as opposed to policies and tax cuts and fear," Mr. Casey said. But Mr. MacKay had a personal connection: "People knew Peter. They knew his family. They knew where he came from."
In Central Nova, Mr. MacKay's touch is nearly everywhere. He grew up in rural Lorne, a collection of houses and tidy farms outside Stellarton, as the son of the MP, from a prominent family in the lumber business. Almost everyone has some connection to his family. He's been involved in just about every community project. His portfolios in Foreign Affairs, Defence and now Justice, increased his celebrity, but most in Pictou County judge him on whether he brought home the bacon – whether he was "good for the county."
Pictou Mayor Joe Hawes thinks so. Mr. MacKay brought in federal money for a "state-of-the-art" sewage treatment plant and helped the shipyard get contracts, he said. New Glasgow Mayor Barrie MacMillan noted Mr. MacKay brought federal money for the county Wellness Centre, a gleaming new recreation centre with rinks, pools and a gym.
That's a role he also had across the region, as onetime minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Nova Scotia's political minister, responsible for steering federal funds. He's seen as having played a big part in the contract to build Arctic Patrol Ships at Halifax Shipyard, touted out as a big hope for the province's economy.
And if Mr. Harper's government still gets some credit for the projects, they've lost the main character connected to them. To Atlantic Canada, he's the other Conservative personality, and he's leaving when that's exactly what Mr. Harper needs.