HALIFAX—Country music singer George Canyon is causing a stir ahead of the federal election by throwing his cowboy hat in the ring for the rural Nova Scotia riding he left after his celebrity breakthrough.

Opponents from the other major parties all welcomed Canyon and the attention that his celebrity is bringing to the Central Nova campaign but called into question the process by which he earned the Conservative nomination.

Roger MacKay, mayor of the town of Westville, N.S., had been elected as candidate by the local riding association in May but announced on Aug. 19 that he was stepping down, citing “personal reasons.” He said in a Facebook post that he would support whomever took his place on the Conservative ballot.

Two days later, Canyon made headlines as the new candidate, having been appointed by national party members.

In an interview with Star Halifax, Canyon — birth name Freddie Lays Jr. — said the party offered him the nomination after MacKay resigned, and he jumped at the opportunity. He hadn’t been looking for a seat for the 2019 election before Central Nova opened but had considered entering politics for many years.

Canyon briefly pursued the Conservative nomination in the Alberta riding of Bow River for the 2015 election but ended up pulling his name from the contest because of a “cancer scare,” as he described it.

Now, after spending more than a decade living in Alberta, Canyon said he would start looking for property to buy in Nova Scotia. The 49-year-old lived in Pictou County until around 2004 — the year he was a runner-up on the reality TV show Nashville Star, after which he moved west to live on a horse and cattle ranch and continue his music career.

When asked about election issues in his chosen riding, Canyon said, “This only just happened,” referring to his nomination.

But, he continued, constituents and family members who still live in the province highlighted the tax burden as a top concern. Canyon said changes under the Trudeau Liberals, including the federal carbon tax, have hurt “moms and dads” who are trying to pay for hockey and dance classes.

The federal carbon tax does not apply in Nova Scotia; the provincial government came to an agreement for a cap-and-trade system instead. But Canyon said he believes the carbon tax still impacts Nova Scotians.

“We might not have a direct carbon tax in Nova Scotia, but you do because the cost of everything is being affected across the country by the carbon tax.”

According to an April report from the parliamentary budget office, which made estimates based on direct and indirect costs of the carbon tax, most households (in provinces where the tax applies) will have a negative net cost for the first five years of the tax. In other words, available rebates will exceed the cost of the tax.

Canyon said he fully supports party leader Andrew Scheer’s much anticipated climate-change plan, despite critics’ doubts about its cost and efficacy.

“I haven’t got deep, deep into that part yet,” he said of the party’s environmental platform. But, “we obviously need to look at doing something different and Andrew Scheer has that plan.”

Liberal incumbent MP Sean Fraser — who also lived in Alberta before winning Central Nova in the Liberal sweep of Atlantic Canada in 2015 and returning to his home province — said he expects Canyon to bring a “Western Canadian sort of Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer style of politics.”

In an interview on Thursday, Fraser said he’d been hearing from disgruntled Conservatives from the local riding association about Canyon’s appointment.

“I am hearing, just over the last 24 hours or so, a lot of Conservatives have reached out to our office,” said Fraser.

“They have nothing negative to say about the person who’s running, but they’re feeling disenfranchised about the way it took place … To me it seems like the process of appointing someone because they have a profile is a bit flawed.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Ryan Sharpe, president of the Conservative riding association for Central Nova, said Fraser was “spreading gossip.”

“As president of the Central Nova Conservative association, I’m extremely excited to have George Canyon as our candidate here in Central Nova. George has local roots that run deep and has always had a passion for serving his country,” Sharpe said in an email.

When asked whether he had received any negative feedback about Canyon’s appointment, Sharpe said: “It’s impossible to get 100 per cent approval with any decision in politics. I hear from plenty of disgruntled Liberals regarding SNC-Lavalin and the health-care crises.”

Conservative party communications director Cory Hann said the decision to appoint Canyon, rather than hold another nomination meeting with local riding members, came from the executive director of the party.

Hann pointed to a section of the party’s nomination rules and procedures that allows the executive director, in consultation with other national party members, to “alter, abridge or suspend” any of the usual nomination rules, which include holding nomination meetings to democratically elect candidates.

Green Party candidate Barry Randle said he’d heard from people who were “very upset” by Canyon’s nomination.

“Several people who I’ve always thought of as being very staunchly Conservatives are just finished with the party now because of disregarding their wants and desires,” Randle said in an interview.

New Democrat candidate Betsy MacDonald said she was intrigued by his nomination because she’s also a musician and liked his music. But, like her Green and Liberal opponents, she’d heard criticism of the appointment process.

“It just sounds like there wasn’t much of a conversation at the riding level about it,” she told Star Halifax.

“I think George has name recognition and the Conservatives are hopeful that that will help them electorally.”

Canyon said he didn’t think he was appointed because of his celebrity but because of his commitment to the Conservative party.

The musician said the party has told him “they would still like me to be George Canyon,” which is why he’s continuing with an ongoing concert tour. He’s scheduled to perform 13 times before the Oct. 21 federal election, and he has another 13 concert dates between the election and the end of the year.

Read more about: