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Posted on 06/13/2006 5:35:44 PM PDT by fanfan
Nova Scotia voters have elected another Conservative minority government in Tuesday's provincial election.
Rookie Premier Rodney MacDonald's Conservatives were locked in tight battles with New Democrats in ridings across the province.
While MacDonald managed to hold onto power, he did not win the support he needed to turn his minority government into a majority -- as Darrell Dexter's New Democrats were able to hold on to their Halifax and Cape Breton strongholds.
MacDonald, 34, watched the election returns at his home in the Cape Breton community of Mabou.
"I think we ran a solid campaign and one we can be proud of," MacDonald told reporters.
MacDonald easily won his seat in Inverness, while Opposition Leader Darrell Dexter won in Dartmouth.
With the majority of the 52-seats in the legislature decided, the Tories had won 23 ridings, the NDP 20, and the Liberals nine.
Dexter, a 48-year-old former journalist and lawyer, needed a breakthrough in rural Nova Scotia for his New Democrats to form a government.
While falling short, it's the closest the NDP has come to power since 1998 when the party tied the Liberals with 19 seats in the province.
The Liberals under Francis MacKenzie were widely acknowledged as the third-place party.
MacKenzie lost his seat in Bedford to Tory Len Goucher as support for his party collapsed.
As leader of the only major party without a seat before the election call, MacKenzie spent almost half of the 31-day campaign in his Halifax-area riding of Bedford.
"We didn't get the right rhythm with the people of Nova Scotia," said MacKenzie.
"It's quite obvious that it's the end of a journey for me," he said, in a sign that he's preparing to step down as leader. MacKenzie later added some confusion about his future, however, when he said he will first consult with the party's president.
While the race was tight, the campaign itself was notable for its lack of drama and focus.
Both the Conservatives and the New Democrats made similar promises, including: cutting taxes, investing in roads, hiring more police officers, regulating gas prices, cutting health-care wait times, reducing post-secondary tuition and eliminating the provincial sales tax on home-heating bills.
In the 2003 election, 15 of the province's 62 ridings were decided by less than 500 votes.
At dissolution, the Conservatives held 25 seats, the NDP had 15 and the Liberals 10. There was one independent and one vacancy.
The province has gained a reputation for electoral uncertainty since the last 1990s.
There have been two minority governments in less than 10 years, with the three main parties battling for leadership.
Canada ping!
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With 98% of the polls reporting:
PC - 23
NDP - 20
LIB - 9
OTH - 0
A good day gets even better.
I was so pleased by President Bush going to Iraq today (yesterday)!
God Bless the free world!
Holey Smokes!...I didn't know..Thanks for the heads up.
Strange that its not in the Breaking News sidebar
I watched this one tonight...I must say I was a tad disappointed with the results. The dippers did too well for my liking. The Liberal vote did collapse like everyone said, and MacKenzie didn't win (as I thought he wouldn't), for all the good it did...though the PCs did snatch 2 on the island. I figured they'd turn out alright if they could hold on in Queens & Shelburne and then snatch Kings West...didn't happen.
Would you happen to know which provinces are due up for elections in the near future?
Doh! There it is, 5 down.
Dang work's been interfering with my Freeping.
I agree. Especially disappointing for me as I live most of the year in Halifax. Bah, humbug.
I was hopeful the PCs could at least break even, but no luck. They really didn't have a shot in Halifax, except in Citadel & Clayton Park, but jeez there's way too much orange on that map. I'd have to think the PCs aren't too happy, but the dippers were muttering about grabbing a minority for the last few days, so they might not be 100% satisfied either. I'd say that the big loser is the Liberals though (9 seats out of 52, 8% drop on last election, leader spends most of the campaign in his own riding and is still handily defeated).
bump
These are my people, and Mabou is a wonderful place, the only place in North America where Scots Gaelic is taught at the Mabou Highschool.
Vote for MacDonald as many times as you can!
I usually only follow Canadian politics when there's an election going on, so I probably don't have all the details. I am fairly confident that Ontario passed legislation fixing election dates every 4 years. IIRC, they will vote in October 2007. PM Harper wants similar legislation on the federal level. I'm pretty sure everyone else has the writ drop system where the Premier/PM can call the election whenever they want within a certain amount of time since the last election (5 years maximum I think).
The PC majority on PEI is so big that it'll probably hold up through another election unless there's something major going on -- the small number of seats makes a swing of a few seats an interesting race, but it's 23-4 in favor of the Tories now ('twas 26-1 the election before that). Premier Binns is running again from what I read.
I just read up on the Yukon and the governing Yukon Party (the most conservative of the 3 big parties) is in trouble.
Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Quebec, Newfoundland, and the NW Territories should all go up in 2007.
don't bother with Alberta election though. It's the most boring election in Canada.
Their election is all about right vs far right
It's a bit bizarre how the PEI provincial elections are so lopsided to the PC, while PEI was the only province not to elect a Conservative MP in the last election. There seems to be very little NDP support in PEI at any level, though. It seems that there's a little more of a disconnect between provincial and national politics in Canada than there is in the U.S.
The Conservative Party hasn't run well in the Yukon lately on the national level. The Conservative Party's candidate ended up in third in 2006.
PEI elections since 1974 (1st time the NDP ran provincially):
1974: Lib 26, PC 6
1978: Lib 17, PC 15
1979: PC 21, Lib 11
1982: PC 21, Lib 11
1986: Lib 21, PC 11
1989: Lib 30, PC 2
1993: Lib 31, PC 1
1996: PC 18, Lib 8, NDP 1
2000: PC 26, Lib 1
2003: PC 23, Lib 4
The island tends to go all one way or all the other way provincially. Notice how few elections were close in terms of seats. It would be interesting to see if their federal representation is the opposite over this time period. Still it's interesting how they're all Liberal federally and basically all Tory provincially right now.
That disconnect between provincial and federal politics is also evident in places like BC and, like you said, the Yukon. The more conservative Yukon party did manage to win last provincial election, but the Tories weren't in the race there federally. Well, now the Yukon party is struggling, so maybe that will even out.
the PEI PC is not a conservative party at all. Never judge the name of the party alone.
We have "liberal" in BC but they're right of centre party.
Next election in Ontario we have John Tory who is NOT A CONSERVATIVE at all.
Ralph klien is a liberal when he was mayor but a PC at the provincial level.
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