Cat named 'Tuxedo Stan' heats up Halifax mayoral race

Tuxedo Stan's campaign posters.

A controversial candidate in Halifax’s mayoral race is appealing to cat lovers with a platform that shines a light on the city’s feline friends.

Tuxedo Stan, a three-year-old cat born to a feral mother, has clawed his way into the city’s mayoral race.

Owners Hugh and Kathy Chisholm launched the Tuxedo Party, with Stan as its leader, as a means to address Halifax’s problem with feral cats.

“We have an explosion of cats,” Hugh Chisholm, a retired veterinarian, told CTV Atlantic on Thursday. “We have literally hundreds, thousands of cats living in the streets.”

The party’s slogan is “Because negligence isn’t working” and its aim is to improve the welfare of cats throughout the city.

Tuxedo Stan has generated a fair amount of buzz in Halifax, with local media reporting on the cat’s campaign.

Sales of Tuxedo Stan buttons, lawn signs and T-shirts go to a “Spay Day” initiative which helps low-income families to spay or neuter their cats.

Two candidates in the upcoming municipal election tweeted that they attended Stan’s Sept. 10 launch party, which was “standing room only.”

“It is not only an election issue, but an on-going issue,” wrote election candidate Peter Grabosky on Facebook.

Candidate Waye Mason tweeted: “I’m just glad I’m not running against Tuxedo Stan. He is everywhere these days. #hfxpoli.”

While Tuexdo Stan’s popularity among voters is on the rise, municipal laws dictate that a cat cannot run for mayor.

But that’s not stopping Tuxedo Stan from musing about politics on his official Facebook page, which has more than 800 likes.

"Politics is a lot like hunting,” reads a post from Stan. “You need to be very patient, then you strike with lightning speed and have no mercy. If you do it right, you eventually get rid of the rats."