Sterling Belliveau

Infobox_Politician


imagesize = 150px
name = Sterling Belliveau
small| caption = Sterling Belliveau, MLA
birth_date =
birth_place =
residence =
office = MLA for Shelburne
term_start = 2006
term_end =
predecessor = Cecil O'Donnell
successor = incumbent
party = NDP
religion =
occupation =

Sterling Belliveau is a Canadian politician and member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, representing the riding of Shelburne for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

He was first elected in the 2006 election. Sterling defeated PC candidate L. Eddie Nickerson, by a narrow margin of 65 votes, Liberal candidate Kirk Cox, and the Green Party candidate Derek Jones. Previous to being elected as a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, Sterling served as a Municipal Councillor for the Municipality of Barrington, representing District 1 (Charlesville, Forbes Point and Woods Harbour).

Belliveau's victory came as somewhat of a surprise to manyWho|date=September 2008 in the province of Nova Scotia, as Shelburne had never been won by an NDP. Belliveau campaigned largely on the inaction of the PC governments of John Hamm and more recently, Rodney MacDonald. One issue that hurt the PCs was a shortage of nursing home beds at Bayside Homes which Belliveau and the NDP promised to address; the minister of health, Chris D'Entremont, also attempted to address this issue by committing 40 beds for some time in the future. L. Eddie Nickerson was also nominated with less than four weeks to go in the campaign due to incumbent Cecil O'Donnell's reluctance to decide on his future. The bungling of the construction of a bridge in the Clyde region of the riding also turned that previously strong PC area towards the NDP.Fact|date=September 2008 Belliveau was able to capitalize on voter unrest and capture the seat for his party. Belliveau, himself a self-employed fisherman, was very popular with the many fishermen in the riding due to his campaign pledges regarding the lobster fishery. Sterling now serves as the NDP Fisheries, and EMO critic in the official opposition of Darrell Dexter.

References