Rick Perkins and Bernadette Jordan at candidates debate September 7, 2021. Photo Ed Halverson

Twenty-four hours after the results of the election, the outgoing and incoming MPs are both upbeat about the result.

Conservative Rick Perkins defeated two-term Liberal incumbent Bernadette Jordan to take the riding of South Shore St. Margaret’s by a 2,000 vote margin.

Perkins ran in 2019 and says the experience helped as constituents recognized him when he came to their door.

“Well, there’s no question that this time I was much better known. Knocking on 15,000 doors in 2019 and then continuing my relationship with many of the people in the riding, the fisherman and the businesses that employ most of us in the riding, has made it easier in this campaign,” said Perkins. “When I went door to door people recognized me and remembered me.”

Perkins says he had a sense people were looking for change when he was on the doorsteps.

“The three biggest issues I got at the door was Justin Trudeau fatigue, health care and a view that people wanted a change in who their actual member of parliament was,” said Perkins.

For her part, Jordan acknowledges her role as fisheries minister contributed to the voter dissatisfaction in the riding.

“I think that it’s been a tough year and a half as the fisheries minister. Obviously the fisheries issue was a big concern for a lot of people and it translated to votes,” said Jordan. “It’s always tough being the fisheries minister because nobody really likes the person who makes the rules.”

Jordan says plans to enjoy the first stretch of time off she’s had in six years as she plans her next move.

“Community has always been extremely important to me and just because I’m not the elected official it does not mean that I will not be involved in my community. I will still be. I’m just trying to figure out in what capacity now,” said Jordan.

The outgoing minister also acknowledged her staff of five in Bridgewater and 18 in her ministerial office will now be looking for work.

“They’re all going to be fine because they’re all very smart and very capable people but it’s still really hard to see,” said Jordan. “They’ve been an amazing team that have supported me through a lot and it’s hard for people who have put their heart and soul into everything for six years to now be in a position where they are looking for something else.”

Reflecting on her time in office Jordan is proud of many accomplishments including: enshrining owner/operator into law, the removal of the Cormorant from the LaHave River and being instrumental in establishing a law to remove derelict vessels from waterways across the country.

But most of all, it’s the constituency work that Jordan will remember most.

“The individual people who have come into our office for help, who have had problems navigating the government system or who have challenges and we’ve been able to help them with whatever they’re dealing with. Often times, people forget that’s one of the main jobs of an MP is to help their constituents,” said Jordan.

Perkins plans to make constituent concerns the focus of his mandate.

To that end he will set up his primary office in Bridgewater and open another office in Shelburne to ensure people can access their MP.

Perkins says he’s keen to get going and won’t take for granted the faith placed in him by the people of South Shore-St.Margaret’s.

“It’s overwhelming and humbling at the same time. As many of your listeners would know, I was the candidate in 2019 and the result was a little different than this one,” said Perkins. “It was exciting to see the results [Monday] night and now the work begins.”

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Conservative Rick Perkins is the new MP for South-Shore St.Margaret’s. Photo Ed Halverson

Canadians have re-elected a Liberal minority government but South Shore-St.Margaret’s will have new representation in Ottawa.

With 269 of 270 polls reporting, Conservative Rick Perkins has defeated incumbent Liberal Bernadette Jordan by almost 2,000 votes.

Slightly more than 60 percent of eligible electors in South Shore-St.Margaret’s cast a ballot which is just above the national turnout of 58 percent.

The results of Monday’s election are a reversal of fortunes for Perkins who lost by 7,000 votes to Jordan in the 2019 election.

Since 2019, Jordan has been Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

She was the only federal minister in Atlantic Canada, in a role closely tied to the economy of the region.

During the campaign, opponents called on Jordan to defend her record after a decades-long dispute regarding First Nations fishing rights boiled over in the riding last year.

The Liberals are leading or elected in 158 of 338 ridings across the country with 98 percent of polls reporting.

If the numbers hold, the election has meant little change in the House of Commons.

The Liberals will add three seats for a total of 158, the Conservatives stay steady at 119, the NDP gained one to hold 25 seats, the Bloc Québécois saw a two and the Green Party held fast at two seats.

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Candidates (L-R) Rick Perkins, Bernadette Jordan, Thomas Trappenberg, Olivia Dorey. Photo Ed Halverson

The four candidates vying to represent South Shore-St.Margaret’s met Tuesday for what will likely be the only debate this campaign.

The event, organized by the Bridgewater Chamber of Commerce, was hosted at the Best Western in Cookville.

Candidates Olivia Dorey with the NDP, Liberal Bernadette Jordan, Conservative Rick Perkins and the Green party’s Thomas Trappenberg took turns answering five questions provided to them in advance by the chamber.

Questions focused on the housing crisis, healthcare, the environment, infrastructure and support for small and medium-sized businesses.

All candidates see a role for the federal government in increasing housing stock, providing more funding to provinces to address healthcare shortfalls, protecting the province’s coastline from sea-level rise and ensuring smaller businesses survive and thrive through the pandemic.

Naturally, how those aims are achieved vary widely along party lines.

The evening was a relatively tame affair punctuated by jabs between the PCs Perkins and Liberal Jordan.

Perkins took aim at Jordan and the Trudeau government’s record while Jordan poked holes in the Conservative platform.

The Greens’ Trappenberg took all parties to task and called for government to look for new ways of solving problems while the NDP’s Dorey highlighted the fact that at 27 years old, she was a generation younger than the other candidates and would be feeling the brunt of the decisions made by whomever is elected for much longer.

After the candidates were through the pre-arranged questions the moderator opened the floor to the public.

When asked when Canadians could expect to see a return to balanced budgets Perkins says the Conservatives have a plan to do so in ten years. Jordan said the priority for the country is getting through the COVID recovery not balancing the books. Trappenberg said now is the time to invest and Dorey cautioned people to temper their expectations, as there is no way to balance the books in the next ten years.

All candidates agreed more supports should be extended to veterans, especially those dealing with PTSD. They also agreed conversion therapy should be banned, more should be done to prevent gender-based violence and increasing immigration needs to be a priority to fill vacant jobs and grow the population.

The candidates reinforced their talking points in their closing arguments. Jordan stepped off-script to comment on the level of anger on display in this election, citing the rock throwing incidents and verbal assaults being lobbied at Justin Trudeau. She says she and her campaign workers have had similar experiences campaigning in this riding.

This was the only time all four candidates were scheduled to engage in a public forum together prior to the election.

Voters will go to the polls September 20.

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Photo Elections Canada

The riding of South Shore- St. Margaret’s is one of the larger constituencies in the country.

Candidates do their best to reach voters but can’t always make it to all corners of the riding.

Each of the people vying to represent the region were given five minutes to explain who they are and their vision for South Shore-St. Margaret’s.

Click below to hear the audio from each candidate.

Olivia Dorey – NDP

Bernadette Jordan – Liberal

Rick Perkins – Conservative

Thomas Trappenberg – Green Party

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

MP Bernadette Jordan. Photo Ed Halverson

The Government of Canada continues to support Kejimkujik through a series of announcements.

This week, the MP for South Shore-St. Margaret’s and Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Bernadette Jordan announced 2,000 trees will be planted in Keji as part of government’s initiative to plant 2 billion trees across the nation.

Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site is surrounded by Acadian forest and Jordan says the species of trees to be planted are chosen based on what is appropriate for the location.

“It’s important that when we’re planting trees were doing it in collaboration with the communities to make sure that we’re planting the right trees. It’s not just about planting a tree, it’s about making sure that you’re putting the right ones for the environment that you live in and that you work in and play in so that they match what we need to see,” said Jordan.

Keji will see several species like red oak, yellow birch and sugar maple planted to help the Acadian forest become more resilient.

Government has set targets for the 2 billion tree planting initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 12 megatonnes annually by 2050, while also generating up to 4,300 jobs.

At the end of June Minister Jordan was again at Kejimkujik to announce $1.16 million in federal infrastructure renewal funding to help rebuild part of the park damaged by post-tropical storm Dorian in the fall of 2019.

Visitors will see a new climate-resilient, permanent pedestrian bridge built along the Mersey River trail after the former floating pedestrian bridge at Mills Falls had become susceptible to storm damage following Dorian.

Unfortunately for some visitors, the Mills Falls day-use park and part of the trail will be closed while the area is under construction.

Jordan explains any construction in a national park comes with challenges.

“Getting the infrastructure into the park, they don’t want to put in a road, so of course, there’s a lot of different things that they have to do to make it work and it’s very exciting to see it happening in Keji,” said Jordan.

Dorian also damaged the Seaside trail network causing coastal erosion and trail undercutting, washouts, strewn boulders, and loss of headland surface.

Part of the announced funding will cover the cost of repairing damage to both the Harbour Rocks Trail and the Port Joli Head Trail at the Seaside.

These announcements come on the heels of the reopening of Jeremy’s Bay Campground. The area was closed for a year to update water infrastructure and washrooms dating back to their original construction in the 1970s.

The federal government poured $10 million into Kejimkujjik to bring that infrastructure up to modern standards.

Jordan calls that money well spent.

“Everybody loves Keji, I don’t know anybody that doesn’t. It’s an absolute jewel in Nova Scotia. We’ve invested significantly in Keji in the last six years, making sure that they have what they need to continue to grow and meet the needs of the park.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Minister Bernadette Jordan speaks in Mahone Bay, July 2020. Photo Ed Halverson

This is the first in a two-part series with South Shore-St. Margaret’s Member of Parliament Bernadette Jordan. Along with her role as an MP, Jordan is also the federal minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, a role which came with many challenges in 2020.

Here, Jordan explains how the fisheries was one of the first industries to feel the impact of the global pandemic.

In the second of the two-part series Jordan discusses a turbulent year for Nova Scotians and highlights some of what went right over the course of 2020.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil addresses reporters after cabinet meeting. Photo credit: Nova Scotia Government

Premier Stephen McNeil is once again calling for all sides of the indigenous fishing dispute taking place on the province’s South Shore to sit down and talk out their issues.

McNeil made the statement at a press conference following Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

The premier said federal fisheries minister and MP for South-Shore St.Margarets Bernadette Jordan and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans need to take a lead to get all sides to the table.

His statement comes after a night of violence saw hundreds of commercial fishers gathered in New Edinburgh set a van on fire and steal and destroy hundreds of pounds of lobster.

Tensions between indigenous and non-indigenous fishers have erupted since the Sipekne’katik band asserted their rights to a moderate living and launched a fishery outside of the season designated by DFO.

McNeil warned anyone attempting to take the law into their own hands risks enflaming an already volatile situation.

“Is only going to continue to deepen wounds, deepen the distrust and people need to understand this is a very difficult issue. There are people on all sides who believe they’re right and what we need is the federal minister to sit down with both sides in the room,” said McNeil.

Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan issued a statement ahead of last nights events condemning the escalation of this dispute which read, “I am appalled by the reported events in Digby County last night and I strongly condemn the actions of every individual who destroyed property, committed violence, or uttered threats. There is no place for this kind of violence or intimidation.

I am particularly disturbed to hear reports of racist comments and actions made towards First Nations peoples. This is unacceptable and we all have a responsibility to call out and condemn this kind of behaviour and language.

I am very relieved that no injuries have been reported. Right now, I am calling on everyone involved to take a step back, and bring calm and understanding to the situation.

Our Government is seized with the issue, and we will continue to work with both First Nations and industry leadership to find a path forward. Our conversations to date have been positive, and we must ensure they continue that way.

Progress cannot be made if individuals resort to violence.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also weighed in on the recent events.

In a release, Trudeau said, “The acts of violence and intimidation committed in Digby County yesterday are unacceptable, and I join Minister Jordan in strongly condemning them. We cannot continue down this path. We must work together to advance reconciliation and implement First Nation treaty rights.”

The premier was asked how satisfied he is with the federal response.

“I’m extremely disappointed quite frankly, that we are in a position where they’re not sitting at the table to find what is a workable solution,” said McNeil. “There are going to have to be difficult conversations. I think both sides know this.”

McNeil said the only influence the province has over the situation is the issuing of buying licenses. They’re waiting for the national government to determine what is a moderate livelihood before they can adjust their policies around buying licenses accordingly.

“No matter how much I want to resolve this issue, I don’t have any authority to do so,” said McNeil. “That’s why it’s critical for the national government to be there. It’s why, in my humble opinion, the chiefs need to focus on the national government and bring the national government to the table and deal with both sides. Not only the national government but the traditional fishery and the industry that’s in this province.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson