Roseanne Skoke

Who is Roseanne Skoke?

Roseanne Skoke was the Liberal MP for the riding of Central Nova from 1993 to 1997. Central Nova had been considered a safe Progressive Conservative riding, but its popular MP, Elmer MacKay, did not run for reelection in 1993. Skoke was elected in the gigantic Liberal landslide of that year as the party swept Nova Scotia and won all but one seat in the Atlantic provinces.

She was one of the more socially conservative members of the Liberal caucus, drawing great controversy for her remarks on homosexuality in 1995, calling it "unnatural and immoral."

Due to redistribution prior to the 1997 federal election, Skoke was forced to run against fellow Liberal MP Francis LeBlanc for the Liberal nomination in her riding, which was renamed Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough. She was defeated due, in part, to controversies surrounding her. She refused to campaign for LeBlanc in the 1997 election leading some Liberals to blame her for LeBlanc's defeat at the hands of Peter MacKay.

Skoke attempted a political comeback by running for the leadership of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party later that year. She placed third.