Tim Houston and the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives pulled off a shocking victory in Tuesday’s election and will form the next provincial government with a majority of the seats in the legislature.
At midnight, the PCs had won or were leading in 31 ridings. The incumbent Liberals, meanwhile, had 17 seats and the NDP trailed in third place with six seats.
The lone independent to be elected, Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, won Cumberland North by a landslide. McCrossin was booted from the PC caucus after she was involved with a protest earlier this year that led to a major highway closure in her riding at the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick border.
For complete unofficial election results visit the Elections Nova Scotia website.
Poll after poll had the Liberals ahead leading into the election, although the Liberals’ lead was diminishing as time went on in the campaign. At the end of the night, the pollsters were way off.
“Let me remind you of where we were just a couple of months ago,” said a triumphant Tim Houston in his victory speech. “As recently as the end of May, the pollsters and the pundits they had us back 28 points in the polls.”
“I wonder what they’re writing right now.”
Nova Scotians have made a clear choice. You have put your trust in us and we are ready to lead and deliver change for our province.
Thank you Nova Scotia!#nspoli #nsvotes #nselxn41 pic.twitter.com/toVYk82N5y
— Tim Houston (@TimHoustonNS) August 18, 2021
Now there is enormous pressure on Houston and company to deliver on some bold promises. The PC’s focused much of their campaign on Nova Scotia’s broken healthcare system. In ad’s, they promised to “fix” it.
There’s no doubt the state of the healthcare system helped defeat the Liberals. As the party in charge for the last eight years, it was easy to put the blame at their feet.
In a scrum with reporters following his concession speech, former Liberal Premier Iain Rankin conceded the healthcare issue likely cost the Liberals the election.
“I think people, obviously, made a decision that they think a party can solve an issue that’s very complex. I think our party has worked very hard to make investments in healthcare,” said Rankin, who plans to stay on as Liberal and opposition leader.
The former premier, however, is skeptical of the PC plan to fix the broken system.
“But people are buying into the idea that it can be solved with billion-dollar deficits that I don’t believe in.”
I got into politics to serve my community and help move Nova Scotia forward. Being Premier has been the privilege of a lifetime.
I'm proud of our record, our campaign, and our @LiberalPartyNS team.
I'm optimistic about Nova Scotia. This is our time – and now our work continues. pic.twitter.com/uiC49EMzyX
— Iain Rankin (@IainTRankin) August 18, 2021
In their costed platform, the PC’s promised to spend $429 million on healthcare promises. This includes doctor retention, $102 million on a mental health plan, and $121 for long-term care for seniors.
The total cost of all platform promises made by Houston and the PCs came in at $553 million in new spending. Houston also stated the province’s budget will be balanced in six years.
For the thousands of Nova Scotians who support rent control measures, however, tonight was not a victory. Houston has said he doesn’t believe rent control works in past debates.
In a July debate, Houston argued flatly that “rent control won’t work” and said there’s no “magic wand” that will fix housing affordability in Nova Scotia.
He said his party’s plans to attract more skilled tradespeople to the province will help developers build housing faster, which will address supply issues.
Initially, Rankin also indicated he didn’t support rent control as a long-term solution to the housing and rental crisis. But in the final days of the campaign, he changed his tune- indicating he would support rent control until the housing market had more balance, which took take years.
Gary Burrill and the NDP were the only ones to support rent control from the beginning and even said they would strengthen the measures if elected.
In his speech Tuesday night to supporters, Burrill repeated the word “gratitude” to describe how he felt about the election outcome and campaign process.
“I have gratitude to the party as a whole, which has put forward in this campaign the most comprehension and progressive platform I and many others have had the honour to stand for in our lifetimes,” he said.
Congratulations Gary! 🧡#nspoli #nsndp #somethingbetter
Posted by NSNDP on Tuesday, August 17, 2021
One of the more unique economic promises the PC’s made was the creation of a loyalty rewards program that would encourage people to buy local Nova Scotia products.
people would build up points based on what they buy. For local food items, shoppers would get points worth 10 per cent of their purchase. For non-food items, they will get three per cent. Houston says this program will be open to all sellers of Nova Scotia products.
Houston says, at first, people could redeem their points when paying for government services, like driver’s license renewal, or buying products from a crown corporation. The sellers and producers of local products would benefit from having increased customer loyalty.
Another promise aimed at the business community is the “Better Paycheque Guarantee” program.
The plan would allow businesses to divert 50 percent of their Nova Scotia taxes away from government coffers and toward hiring new staff, wage increases, or bonuses for workers.
The top 20 percent of earners in every company would not be eligible for the subsidy. Employers would have the discretion to distribute the money how they please but must use it for employees in Nova Scotia.
With files from Steve MacArthur.
Derek Montague is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
