Rodger Cuzner

Rodger Trueman Cuzner (born November 4, 1955) is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for the riding of Cape Breton—Canso and its predecessor, Bras d'Or—Cape Breton, from 2000 to 2019. For most of 2003, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister under Jean Chrétien, and served as Parliamentary Secretary for Employment, Workforce Development and Labour in the Trudeau government.[2]

Rodger T. Cuzner
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce, and Labour
In office December 2, 2015 – October 21, 2019
Minister	MaryAnn Mihychuk Patty Hajdu
Preceded by	Scott Armstrong
Chief Opposition Whip[1]
In office November 5, 2008 – September 9, 2010
Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
In office January 13, 2003 – December 11, 2003
Prime Minister	Jean Chretien
Preceded by	Joe Jordan
Succeeded by	Multiple
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Bras d'Or—Cape Breton
In office November 27, 2000 – 2004
Preceded by	Michelle Dockrill
Succeeded by	riding redistributed
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Cape Breton—Canso
In office 2004 – October 21, 2019
Preceded by	Michelle Dockrill
Succeeded by	Mike Kelloway
Personal details
Born	(1955-11-04) November 4, 1955 Glace Bay, Nova Scotia
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Lynn Cuzner
Residence	Glace Bay
Profession	Community organizer

Early life and education

Cuzner was born the second of six children born to Trueman and Kay Cuzner in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He studied physical education at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish. He worked as the Special Event Coordinator for the Cape Breton Department of Recreation, Culture and Facilities, where he was responsible for major events like the Millennium Countdown 2000. Cuzner has been very involved with hockey throughout his life. He coached Team Nova Scotia at the Canada Games in 1995 and 1999.

Political career

Cuzner was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada in the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Bras d'Or—Cape Breton and, later, Cape Breton—Canso. He was first elected in 2000.[3] Cuzner served as Parliamentary Secretary to former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien from January 13, 2003 to December 11, 2003 and held other key positions within the Liberal Caucus, including chair of Nova Scotia Caucus, chair of Atlantic Caucus, and Chief Opposition Whip. He also served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Employment, Workforce Development and Labour.[4][5]

Cuzner represents the Liberal Party on the weekly MP panel on CTV News Channel's Power Play, with host Don Martin, and he is regularly asked to appear on other national political affairs programs, on television and radio.

Cuzner traditionally delivered a humorous, politically-themed rewrite of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on the last house sitting before the holiday break.[6]

He was twice voted as "Most Collegial" Member of Parliament by his Parliamentary colleagues, and was described by Maclean's in 2017 as "Parliament's Sense of Humour".[7][8]

Cuzner was re-elected to a sixth straight term with 74.4% of the vote in the 2015 Canadian federal election.[9]

On April 26, 2019, Cuzner announced he wouldn't run for re-election in the 2019 election.[10][11]

Personal life

Cuzner and his wife Lynn (née Hopkins) have three children: Mitch, Scott and Brad.

Electoral record

2015 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	32,163	74.39	+30.29	–
	Conservative	Adam Daniel Rodgers	6,246	14.45	–18.17	–
	New Democratic	Michelle Smith	3,547	8.20	–11.85	–
	Green	Maria Goretti Coady	1,281	2.96	–0.28	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			43,237	100.0		$204,662.05
Total rejected ballots			274	0.63	–0.31
Turnout			43,511	71.72	+9.25
Eligible voters			60,666
	Liberal hold		Swing		+24.23
Source: Elections Canada[12][13]

2011 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	16,478	46.45	-1.65	$63,928.72
	Conservative	Clarence Derrick Kennedy	10,873	30.65	+7.15	$75,474.80
	New Democratic	Marney Simmons	6,984	19.69	-1.43	$2,528.46
	Green	Glen Carabin	1,141	3.22	-4.06	$346.95
Total valid votes/Expense limit			35,476	100.0		$83,274.40
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			336	0.94	+0.14
Turnout			35,812	62.47	-0.84
Eligible voters			57,331
	Liberal hold		Swing		-4.40
Sources:[14][15]

2008 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	17,447	48.10	-5.09	$35,405.44
	Conservative	Allan Murphy	8,524	23.50	-0.68	$51,511.90
	New Democratic	Mark MacNeill	7,660	21.12	+0.98	$6,483.40
	Green	Dwayne MacEachern	2,641	7.28	+4.78	$5,315.05
Total valid votes/Expense limit			36,272	100.0		$80,776
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			292	0.80	+0.09
Turnout			36,564	63.31	-3.21
Eligible voters			57,753
	Liberal hold		Swing		-2.20

2006 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	21,424	53.19	-0.07	$62,038.40
	Conservative	Kenzie MacNeil	9,740	24.18	+3.94	$47,590.43
	New Democratic	Hector Morrison	8,111	20.14	-4.18	$7,662.93
	Green	Rob Hines	1,006	2.50	+0.33	$323.17
Total valid votes/Expense limit			40,281	100.0		$76,321
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			288	0.71	-0.24
Turnout			40,569	66.52	+2.72
Eligible voters			60,984
	Liberal hold		Swing		-2.00

2004 Canadian federal election: Cape Breton—Canso
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	20,139	53.26	-0.33	$63,078.17
	New Democratic	Shirley Hartery	9,197	24.32	+5.44	$21,160.51
	Conservative	Kenzie MacNeil	7,654	20.24	-7.19	$49,919.36
	Green	Seumas Gibson	820	2.17	–	none listed
Total valid votes/Expense limit			37,810	100.0		$73,856
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			361	0.95
Turnout			38,171	63.80	-3.38
Eligible voters			59,825
	Liberal notional hold		Swing		-2.88
Changes from 2000 are based on redistributed results. Conservative Party change is based on the combination of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party totals.

2000 Canadian federal election: Bras d'Or–Cape Breton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rodger Cuzner	20,815	54.85	+16.41
	Progressive Conservative	Alfie MacLeod	8,114	21.38	+1.12
	New Democratic	Michelle Dockrill	7,537	19.86	-21.44
	Alliance	John Currie	1,483	3.91	–
Total valid votes			37,949	100.00
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+18.93

References

1. Rodger Cuzner - Roles.
2. "Rodger Cuzner". Prime Minister of Canada. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
3. "Liberals stage C.B. comeback". The Chronicle Herald. November 28, 2000. Archived from the original on January 24, 2005. Retrieved 2014-09-29.
4. "Cuzner named parliamentary secretary". Cape Breton Post. December 2, 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
5. Fitz-Morris, James (2 December 2015). "Bill Blair, Adam Vaughan among new parliamentary secretaries". www.cbc.ca. CBC News. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
6. Maloney, Ryan (11 December 2015). "Rodger Cuzner's Christmas Poem Mocks Tories, Salutes Kevin Vickers". Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
7. "2013 Parliamentarians of the Year - Macleans.ca". Macleans.ca. 2013-11-18. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
8. "Rodger Cuzner: Parliament's sense of humour - Macleans.ca". Macleans.ca. 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
9. "Here are Nova Scotia's final riding-by-riding results | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
10. "Cape Breton-Canso MP Rodger Cuzner calls it a career". Cape Breton Post. April 26, 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-27.
11. "Longtime Cape Breton Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner will not re-offer". CBC News. April 26, 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-27.
12. "October 19, 2015 Election Results — Cape Breton—Canso (Validated results)". Elections Canada. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
13. "Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
14. Elections Canada – Official voting results, Forty-first general election, 2011
15. Elections Canada – Candidate's electoral campaign return, 41st general election

External links

• Rodger Cuzner – Parliament of Canada biography
• Official website