Newly elected South Shore-St. Margarets MP Jessica Fancy-Landry speaks to a voter in Liverpool earlier in the campaign. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED TUESDAY at 5:20 P.M.

Voters in South Shore-St. Margarets went back to the Liberals on Monday night, electing first-time candidate Jessica Fancy-Landry in a decisive victory.

Fancy-Landry beat Conservative incumbent Rick Perkins by about 7,000 votes, grabbing 55 per cent support.

The Liberal got 27,871 votes to Perkins’s 20,854, according to preliminary results from Elections Canada.

“I think it was our positivity,” she told QCCR in an interview.

“We ran a very positive and clean and energetic campaign and I think that really resonated with a lot of people here.”

Turnout in the riding was just over 72 per cent, which was higher than the national rate of about 67 per cent.

Fancy-Landry is originally from Caledonia and now lives in Bridgewater. She’s a teacher at Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin.

Perkins was first elected in 2021, ousting then-fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan.

Fancy-Landry said the big issue on the campaign trail was affordability and people’s concerns over the cost of living.

“Also, Trump and tariffs and then being a coastal riding, definitely fisheries,” she said. 

“But I really think right now it’s time to unify all of our community and really build on this positivity and build trust back where the Liberal Party might have lost trust in a couple of different areas within the riding.”

She said she believes growing up in the area helped cement her win.

“I think that was my secret sauce. We need someone who has been here, has their feet on the street, has raised their kids here and really knows those intimate concerns and issues for the area and has the connections to bring people together.

“I really think it was that positivity in bringing people together that really spoke to a lot of people because politics right now is just so divisive. And we need to unify as a nation. And I really felt like … now that we have that mandate, we can start doing a lot of really good work.”

She said she’s already heard from municipal leaders from around the riding, as well as other Liberal MPs to help her in her new role.

Fancy-Landry said that in the next few weeks, she’ll be getting orientation as a first-time MP and meeting with the rest of the newly elected Liberal caucus.

She’ll also be wrapping up her career as a teacher.

But she’s looking forward to getting to work as the MP for South Shore-St. Margarets.

“That’s been my tagline for the last 37 days: ‘Let’s get to work,’” she said. 

“And now we’re here and we’ve got to put our money where our mouth is and work really hard for our constituents, all constituents.”

The Green Party’s Mark Embrett finished third with 818 votes. Patrick Boyd of the People’s Party of Canada was the choice of 698 people and independent candidate Hayden Henderson got 460 votes.

Elections Canada said 50,701 of 70,205 eligible electors voted. That included just over 19,000 people who turned out for advance polls over the Easter weekend.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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You don’t need your voter information card from Elections Canada to vote in the April 28 federal election. (Elections Canada)

If you haven’t received your voter information card yet for the April 28 federal election, Elections Canada says not to worry.

You can still vote without it. 

Elections Canada told QCCR there have been delays in getting the cards to some parts of the country.

The Liverpool post office hadn’t begun receiving the cards for its customers until the middle of this week. 

The cards contain information on where and when you can vote, details about your polling station and your name and address.

Elections Canada spokeswoman Francoise Enguehard says you don’t need the voter information card to cast your ballot.

“What is important for people to know is that you do not need a voter information card to vote,” she said in an interview. “And you don’t need it either to verify where you have to vote.

“The voter information card can serve as one ID to vote. But it doesn’t really change the way people have to prove their identity and they have to prove their address. So if people have a driver’s licence or they have a municipal or provincial ID, as civil servants would, then they can use that. And it you don’t have it, you need two things both with your name and one that proves your address.”

To prove your civic address, you can also use a property tax bill, a statement from your house or tenant insurance or a utility bill that contains your physical address.

You can also have somebody else vouch for your identity at your polling station.

“It’s the honors system. You say you are who you are and where you live. But the person must be registered at the same polling station and and the person can only vouch for one individual.”

Enguehard said she doesn’t know the reason for the delay in Liverpool. 

“We send 28 million cards to electors all across the country. Sometimes it can happen that there is a delay in getting a polling location. So until you have the polling location, you cannot print the voter information card. Sometimes out of the 28 million, a few of the cards, the information is incorrect and new voter information cards have to be issued. So all of that can cause delays.”

She said those who haven’t yet received a voter information card should be getting one in the next few days. 

Regardless, you can use the “My voter information” section on the Elections Canada homepage at elections.ca or call 1-800-463-6868 to make sure you’re registered to vote.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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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.

The event is free, though people have to register at this link. The federal election is April 28.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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42nd Provincial general election in Nova Scotia.

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Dorothy Rice, has received an order from the Governor in Council for a Provincial general election(PGE) to be held in Nova Scotia. The CEO has issued the writs of election for the 55 electoral districts in the province and election day will be Tuesday, November 26, 2024.

Nova Scotians who are 18 years or older, a Canadian citizen, and have lived in the province for 6 months before the election call can vote in the PGE.

“Voters in Nova Scotia can count on Elections Nova Scotia to deliver on our mandate by providing a fair and balance election,” says Dorothy Rice, Chief Electoral Officer of Nova Scotia, “We offer a variety of voting options because we want the electoral process to be accessible so all voters can participate in democracy.”

There are 26 early voting days available in Nova Scotia during the 42nd PGE. Voting will begin on Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at the returning offices in all 55 electoral districts.

Before election day, voters in Nova Scotia can cast their ballot early at any voting location in the province, not just in their home electoral district. This allows voters to vote when and where it is convenient for them.

Early voting after the close of candidate nominations on Wednesday, November 6, will be done using Elections Nova Scotia’s new secure e-Ballot system. e-Ballot allows voters to cast their vote on a secure tablet in-person at an early voting location. Early voting before the close of candidate nominations will be done by paper ballot, using the write-in ballot.

Write-in ballot is the remote voting option for voters in the 42nd PGE. Voters can apply to vote by mail using a write-in ballot. A trusted friend of family member can act as an agent to assist a voter with their write-in ballot application. Returning offices call also make arrangements for a write-in ballot to visit voters at their home.

On election day, Tuesday, November 26, 2024, voters must vote at their assigned voting location or the returning office in their electoral district. Elections day voting will be done on traditional paper ballots. Polls will be open on election day from 8 am – 8 pm.

An information postcard will be mailed to every household in the province next week to help voters understand their voting options. Elections Nova Scotia encourages voters to get to know their voting options and make a plan to cast their ballot in the 42nd PGE.

Nova Scotia Electoral Boundaries Commission members listen to citizen feedback at a public meeting in Bridgewater June 9 2022. Photo Ed Halverson

Residents delivered a message loud and clear, keep Shelburne in the South Shore.

The federal electoral boundaries commission held a hearing in Bridgewater Tuesday night to discuss how riding lines will be redrawn across the province.

The commission’s mandate is to try to distribute Nova Scotia’s population equally amongst the 11 seats.

To accommodate population growth in Halifax, the commission proposed extending the South Shore-St. Margaret’s riding further into Halifax to include areas up to Sambro and moving Shelburne into the newly named Acadian Shores riding along with Yarmouth and Digby.

All the just over a dozen people who addressed the boundaries commission said Shelburne must remain part of the South Shore.

The current Member of Parliament for South Shore St. Margaret’s Rick Perkins was first to speak.

Perkins talked at length about the historical and cultural ties between Shelburne and the rest of the South Shore.

“When you take one and slice a chunk out of it, sort of like cutting the heart out of your community. I think that’s why you saw the passion here tonight saying, I know you’ve got this problem up there in Halifax but don’t take it out on us,” said Perkins.

MP Rick Perkins addresses electoral boundary commission members. Photo Ed Halverson

Almost everyone who spoke at the hearing discussed the importance of keeping communities of interest together; communities that share not just history and culture but also industries and attitudes.

Perkins says that’s why he proposes keeping Shelburne in the South Shore riding as it has been for 50 years and moving areas such as Timberlea and Hubley into a city riding.

Perkins says that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to serve his constituents in those areas.

“I’m happy to represent anyone that’s living in whatever riding I’m lucky enough to represent,” said Perkins. “The challenge is balancing those issues that you have to do because the perspectives of urban people and suburban people in a large city like Halifax versus small communities like ours, they do have different perspectives. You try to balance them but it’s difficult.”

Elections Canada reassess riding boundaries across the country every 10 years to ensure Canadians receive equal and fair representation.

Based on the 2021 census results each riding in Nova Scotia should represent 88,000 people.

Under special circumstances, that number can be adjusted up or down by 25 percent so an electoral district can have no fewer than 66,000 and no more than 110,000 people.

Commission chair Justice Cindy Bourgeois says they’ve received the message that their proposal is focused too much on numbers and doesn’t reflect the reality of the communities on the ground.

“So, the commission is going to go back. We’re going to listen to the information that we’ve received about here and at other meetings across the province and see whether we can come up with a revised plan for the boundaries that not only respect the numbers that we have to, in terms of the equivalency of voters in each riding, but also take into consideration other nuances that maybe we didn’t appreciate as much until we heard from people who live in the various communities,” said Bourgeois. “And that’s what the process is supposed to do.”

Nova Scotians can register to speak at a province-wide virtual public hearing to be held June 27.

Anyone who wishes can provide feedback to the commission until June 28.

The commission will then have until the end of the year to finalize their proposed electoral boundary changes.

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

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