Russell MacKinnon

Russell Vincent MacKinnon (born October 4, 1953) is a Canadian politician in Nova Scotia. He represented Cape Breton West in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1988 to 1995 and then from 1998 to 2006 as a Liberal and then Independent member.

Early life and education MacKinnon was born in Grand Mira South, Nova Scotia, in 1953. He was educated at the Nova Scotia Land Survey Institute.

In 1994, MacKinnon was suspended from the Liberal caucus for refusing to vote in favor of the government's municipal services exchange bill. to make an unsuccessful bid to become mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. He won his former seat in 1998. He sat as an independent from April 2005 and did not run for reelection in 2006, when he was defeated in a bid to win the Progressive Conservative nomination in Cape Breton West.

On May 3, 2012, MacKinnon pleaded not guilty and went to trial on the charges in March 2013. On March 15, 2013, MacKinnon stopped testifying at his trial and pleaded guilty to breach of trust, and was sentenced to an eight-month conditional sentence.