The South Queens Chamber of Commerce is organizing a meet-and-greet in Liverpool with candidates in South Shore-St. Margarets. (Elections Canada)
Voters in Queens County will get a chance to meet some of the candidates vying to be the next MP for South Shore-St. Margarets.
The South Queens Chamber of Commerce and Main and Mersey Dining Room and Coffee Bar in Liverpool are teaming up for a candidate Q&A on Mon., April 21 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Ashley Christian is president of the chamber of commerce.
“The idea is a casual meet-and-greet forum,” Christian said. “What we’re going to be doing is casual networking and then allowing each of the candidates five to 10 minutes to introduce themselves to the group and then we intend to take questions from the floor. So we expect one hour of a more formal question-and-answer period and then another hour of just casual networking.”
Christian said she expects three of the five candidates to be at the event: Liberal Jessica Fancy-Landry, the Green Party’s Mark Embrett and Patrick Boyd of the People’s Party of Canada.
Conservative Rick Perkins, who is running for re-election, could not make it.
Christian did not know whether Independent candidate Hayden Henderson will be at the event. Henderson is the outreach director for the youth wing of the NDP. He was a last-minute addition to the ballot after the NDP’s Brendan Mosher dropped out and has since been endorsed by the NDP.
“We really wanted to give the citizens of Queens County an opportunity to meet everyone, hear their platforms, hear what’s important to them and ask them questions,” Christian said.
Voters will head to the polls on Tuesday in Nova Scotia’s provincial election. (Rick Conrad)
UPDATED NOV. 26, 10:10 a.m.
Election Day is Tuesday in Nova Scotia, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
But many Nova Scotians have already voted, though early numbers are down from the 2021 election.
According to Elections Nova Scotia, 160,698 people have voted in early, advance and community polls at returning offices around the province. That also includes write-in ballots.
In the 2021 provincial election, 176,793 votes were cast early. But in 2017, that number was 118,623.
As of Sunday, there were 788,427 registered voters in Nova Scotia.
According to Elections Nova Scotia, 1,950 of 9,270 eligible voters have cast ballots in early voting in Queens.
Election officials did not mail out individual voter information cards this year because of concerns about the impending Canada Post strike.
Naomi Shelton is the spokesperson for Elections Nova Scotia.
She said voter cards would have been mailed out beginning Nov. 14. Postal workers hit the picket lines on Nov. 15.
“So we wanted to make sure we had one clear path, one clear message for voters,” Shelton said in an interview. “So instead we put together a voter awareness campaign. So that is a multimedia campaign that has radio ads, a variety of traditional print mediums as well as social ads.”
Three people are running in the riding of Queens. Incumbent PC MLA Kim Masland is trying to win her third election in a row. She’s being challenged by Liberal Cathy De Rome and New Democrat Brian Skabar.
If you’re not sure where to vote in your community, you can use the Where Do I Vote tool on the Elections Nova Scotia homepage or call 1-800-565-1504. Or you can vote at the Queens returning office in the post office building on Market Street.
Liberal Cathy De Rome, PC incumbent Kim Masland and New Democrat Brian Skabar are running in Queens in the Nova Scotia election. (Rick Conrad, Nova Scotia NDP)
The two people hoping to unseat popular MLA Kim Masland in Queens admit it’s an uphill battle, but they say they’ve been hearing good things from voters.
Cathy De Rome is running for the Liberals and Brian Skabar is trying to take the seat back for the NDP in Tuesday’s provincial election.
Masland is trying for a repeat in a riding she captured in 2021 for the Progressive Conservatives with 70 per cent of the vote. Before that, the riding was Queens-Shelburne, which Masland won in 2017 with almost 44 per cent of the vote.
Election Day is Tues., Nov. 26. But Queens County residents can vote early at the returning office on Market Street in Liverpool or at the North Queens Fire Hall in Caledonia.
When the election was called on Oct. 27, the Tories had 34 seats, the Liberals had 14, the NDP had 6 and there was one independent.
De Rome lives in Beach Meadows and is a retired elementary school teacher. She’s also the president of the Queens Liberal association. Skabar is originally from Amherst, but now lives near Caledonia. He is a retired social worker and a former NDP MLA for Cumberland North.
De Rome and Skabar say that they know it’s going to be tough to defeat Masland. But they say it’s important to run.
“Our democracy is only as strong as the people who participate in it,” De Rome said in a recent interview. “And I want people to become involved and find out what the issues are and how they can work at participating and hopefully making things better.
“Kim is very popular and she has been doing it a long time. But just maybe it’s time for a change.”
Skabar says he’s knocked on 40 to 50 doors a day during the campaign. And even though he’s new to the area, he says he’s been getting positive feedback.
“To my surprise, only having been here for two years, either people in Queens County are really, really kind, 0r I might have half a chance,” he said in an interview.
“Three out of five doors that I knock one are supportive of New Democrats. Our incumbent here is quite popular individually but I don’t think people are really crazy about Tim Houston.”
Masland could not be reached for an interview. But in a video posted on her Facebook page, she said she’s knocked on more than 5,000 doors in the campaign.
She also posted that the Houston government has hired more doctors, helped build more affordable housing, and made record investments in road and bridge infrastructure.
De Rome says that while many voters say they’re not happy with the state of health care, housing and affordability, they haven’t asked her much about she or the Liberals plan to address it.
“People will complain. When the other day I said to a man, ‘Do you have any questions?’ He said no. And so I said, ‘Are you happy with things?’ ‘Not really’. So it just didn’t quite make sense.”
De Rome points to the Liberal plan to build more homes using the co-operative housing model, open more collaborative care clinics around the province, and to forgive part of certain health-care workers’ student loans for up to five years.
“We are getting more doctors, it seems, but people are still having long waits in emergency. … To sit in emergency for nine-plus hours to have a prescription renewed is ridiculous.”
The NDP had been a force in the traditionally Conservative riding of Queens from 2006 to 2013. Sterling Belliveau hung on to the seat for the party in 2013 when it was changed to Queens-Shelburne.
But the NDP haven’t had much of a presence since Belliveau retired before the 2017 election.
Skabar says he’s hearing from voters who are upset about Premier Tim Houston’s early election call. He says voters have told him they like some parts of the PC plan. But they wonder why the party needed an election to do that.
Skabar adds that Masland has done a good job getting roadwork done in Queens County.
“I only just met Kim last week at the community dinner here in Caledonia. And really, what’s not to like? Actually, she’s a good member. But the government that she represents is not doing a good job for Nova Scotia.”
The Liberals’ De Rome says that no matter which party people support, she hopes they get out and vote.
“I would consider it an honour if they chose to elect me. I’ve never thought of doing this, but I am enjoying it. People have been very receptive when I’ve talked to them. … I hope people take the chance to get out and vote. It’s important. Go out and vote, put your X in the spot where you think would do the most good.”
You can vote early at the returning office in your area until 8 p.m. on Friday or until 6 p.m. on Saturday and Monday.
If you don’t know where your Election Day voting location is, you can use the Where do I Vote tool on the Elections Nova Scotia website at electionsnovascotia.ca or call 1-800-565-1504. Polls will be open on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
