Jaime Battiste
Jaime Battiste | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Sydney—Victoria | |
| Assumed office October 21, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Eyking |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1979 (age 44–45) Eskasoni First Nation, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Political party | Liberal Party of Canada |
Jaime Battiste MP (born 1979) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Sydney—Victoria in the House of Commons of Canada as a member of the Liberal Party in the 2019 Canadian federal election.[1] He is the first Mi'kmaw Member of Parliament in Canada.[2]
Early life and education
Battiste is the son of Chickasaw legal scholar James (Sákéj) Youngblood Henderson and Miꞌkmaq scholar Marie Battiste.[3] Battiste is a graduate of Dalhousie Law School.
Political career
In April 2019, Battiste announced he was seeking the Liberal nomination in Sydney—Victoria for the 2019 federal election.[4] He won the nomination on July 13, 2019.[5]
In early October 2019 Battiste created controversy when comments he previously made on social media were reported. In 2012, Battiste tweeted: "Why do I assume every skinny Aboriginal girl is on crystal meth or pills?" In another, he made light of sexual assault, tweeting "five minutes in Cheers and I would accidently [sic] sexually assault a cougar … twice."[6]
Battiste apologized for the comments. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau refused to remove him as the Liberal candidate.[7]
On October 21, 2019, Battiste was elected as the Member of Parliament in Sydney—Victoria becoming the first Mi'kmaq Member of Parliament.[8]
Electoral record
| 2019 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Jaime Battiste | 12,536 | 30.90 | −42.30 | ||||
| Conservative | Eddie Orrell | 11,227 | 27.68 | +17.04 | ||||
| New Democratic | Jodi McDavid | 8,146 | 20.08 | +7.02 | ||||
| Independent | Archie MacKinnon | 5,679 | 14.00 | New | ||||
| Green | Lois Foster | 2,249 | 5.54 | +3.04 | ||||
| Independent | Kenzie MacNeil | 480 | 1.18 | New | ||||
| Veterans Coalition | Randy Joy | 248 | 0.61 | New | ||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 40,565 | 100.0 | $97,836.59 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 528 | 1.28 | +0.71 | |||||
| Turnout | 41,093 | 68.44 | −0.52 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 60,042 | |||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | −29.67 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[9] | ||||||||
References
- ^ "Battiste, Kelloway continue Liberal rule in Cape Breton". The Chronicle-Herald. October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ^ Fraser, Jeremy (October 21, 2019). "VIDEO: Jaime Battiste becomes first Mi'kmaw MP after winning riding of Sydney-Victoria". capebretonpost.com. Cape Breton Post. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
- ^ "July". CBU.ca. Cape Breton University.
- ^ "Local Mi'kmaq leader to seek Liberal nomination in Sydney-Victoria". pressreader.com. Cape Breton Post. April 24, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
- ^ "Battiste wins Liberal nomination for Sydney-Victoria". capebretonpost.com. Cape Breton Post. July 13, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
- ^ https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/i-take-full-responsibility-cape-breton-liberal-candidate-apologizes-for-social-media-posts-1.4628525
- ^ https://nationalpost.com/news/trudeau-wont-remove-liberal-candidate-for-racist-sexist-social-media-posts
- ^ MacDonald, Michael (Oct 22, 2019). "Meet Jaime Battiste: Nova Scotia's first Mi'kmaq member of Parliament". Global News - Canada. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- ^ "Results Validated by the Returning Officer". Elections Canada. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
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