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DOMINION - What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago, Mike Kelloway was a rookie Member of Parliament getting ready for his first full year in the House of Commons. At the same time, Kelloway was only days away from being named to the Commons' Standing Committees on Health and Justice. 

Today, as he looks back at a year that has seen very little actual activity on Parliament Hill, Kelloway is grateful for his experiences and pleased with what he has seen in terms of the resilience of his Cape Breton-Canso constituents, and Nova Scotians in general, in following social-distancing regulations and doing all they can to combat COVID-19 on the local and regional level.

In an interview earlier this week with TELILE 24/7 host Adam Cooke, Kelloway acknowledged the government officials that quickly developed the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) for individuals and the wage subsidies that have assisted so many businesses throughout his riding and beyond in 2020. However, the first-term MP also praised the likes of Cape Breton Partnership executive director Carla Arsenault, seafood processors such as Blaire Martell and Leonard LeBlanc, and other community and economic leaders that have shaped the focus of Ottawa's response to the pandemic over the past 12 months.

"These are not Mike Kelloway ideas," the MP insisted. 

While he expressed optimism in terms of the vaccination program that has now begun to roll out across Canada, including several parts of Nova Scotia, Kelloway is also stressing patience with his constituents as 2021 proceeds. 

The MP is also hoping to see further discussions between Federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan and officials with Potlotek First Nation, whose moderate-livelihood lobster fishery in St. Peter's Bay was disrupted by the removal of hundreds of traps by local Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officials in October and November.