SHELBURNE (47)
formerly 48

Candidates:

Liberal: Clifford Huskilson NDP: Kendall Stoddard PC: Cecil O'Donnell

Current MLA: Cecil O'Donnell (PC)

Riding Profile: Shelburne is a largely rural county where lobstering and fish processing remain the main economic activities followed by tourism and manufacturing. The riding includes the communities of Clark's Harbour, Shelburne and Lockeport. The population is about 17,000.

The town of Shelburne is the largest municipality. It's home to the Roseway Hospital (19 beds), the Shelburne Youth Center, a facility for young offenders, and a soundstage where a movie is being shot this summer.

It's heritage is Loyalist, and neighbouring smaller communities include descendants from early Black Loyalists.

A site in Shelburne County has been optioned as a landfall for a proposed natural gas pipeline.

Two new high schools, one for Barrington Passage and one for Shelburne, will be built over the next five years.

Incomes and educational levels are below the provincial average. The average income is about $23,000 and more than half the county's residents did not complete high school. Unemployment hovers around 11 per cent.

Issues: Recruitment of doctors, aging population, highway improvements between Barrington and Shelburne / Shelburne and Sable River, car insurance, out-migration.

'Donnell's name was drawn out of a hat to become the first PC member from Shelburne County in 30 years. Clifford Huskilson's father, Harold Huskilson, was an undertaker who represented SHelburne since 1970. The Huskilson family still owns funeral homes in the area.

1999: LIB Clifford Huskilson tied PC Cecil O'Donnell with 3,206 votes each. NDP Dianne Nickerson polled 1,306. 1993: LIB Clifford Huskilson defeated PC Mary Rose by 3,436 votes. 1988: LIB Harold Huskilson defeated PC Tim VanZoost by 983 votes. 1970 - 1988: LIB Harold Huskilson defeats all opponents.

Voter turnout: 64 per cent in 1999 .