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.
Katharina Cochrane, vice-president of the South Queens Chamber of Commerce, says voters seem to be ‘dialled in’ during this election. (Rick Conrad)
Nova Scotia’s South Shore is known for its ocean breezes and waterfront vistas, drawing thousands of tourists each year to relax on its many beaches.
But in the 2025 federal election campaign, there’s nothing laidback about the race to win the riding of South Shore-St. Margarets.
Incumbent Rick Perkins is trying to keep the seat for the Conservatives, while newcomer Jessica Fancy-Landry hopes to win it back for the Liberals. Mark Embrett is running for the Green Party and Patrick Boyd is representing the People’s Party of Canada. Hayden Henderson is running as an Independent.
In the 2021 election, Perkins beat Liberal incumbent Bernadette Jordan by about four per cent, or 1,800 votes. The NDP finished a strong third, capturing 19 per cent of the vote. Turnout was about 63 per cent.
This time, however, with no declared NDP candidate, it appears to be a two-way race between Conservative Perkins and Liberal Fancy-Landry in the April 28 vote.
2025 FEDERAL ELECTION: QCCR INTERVIEWS THE CANDIDATES
Perkins lives in St. Margarets Bay and says this is the most enthusiastic voters have been since he first ran in 2019.
“I’m getting a great response, a lot of people appreciating the job I’ve done for the last four years, and we’re almost running out of signs,” he told QCCR in early April.
Fancy-Landry is originally from Caledonia, Queens Co., and now lives in Bridgewater. The teacher, community volunteer and first-time candidate says it’s been an energetic campaign so far, with lots of great conversations with voters.
“Tariffs and Trump seem to be on the lips of everybody that we are talking to,” she says.
“Affordability. We’re hearing a lot about environmental (concerns), coastal impact, whether it’s fishing, whether it’s Christmas tree farming, whether it’s some of our forestry. People have really been reaching out to see what we can do to help bolster and support the different economies along our South Shore.”
The Greens’ Embrett is an implementation scientist with Nova Scotia Health. This is the Queensland resident’s first full campaign, though he’s had his name on the ballot in previous elections for the Greens.
“I decided to align myself with the Green Party because their values around equity and transparency and government and fairness and policies really echoed my own beliefs and my own values.”
The People’s Party’s Boyd is originally from Vancouver and moved to Sable River three years ago, after spending some time overseas in international banking. This the first campaign for the consultant and hobby farmer.
“We’re sicker than we’ve ever been. We’re poorer than we’ve ever been. We’re more censored than we’ve ever been. And at the same time, you can see the parties that are running, they can really be described as a globalist uniparty. So whether you’re on the Liberal side or the Conservative side, it’s really hard to differentiate or distinguish between policies.”
The riding covers a vast territory, stretching from Head of St. Margarets Bay outside Halifax to Clark’s Harbour at the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia.
In the 2021 election, it counted just under 80,000 voters. But it lost some of those electors when the boundaries were redrawn in 2023.
People seem motivated this time to get out and vote. About 19,000 people voted in advance polls over the Easter weekend, mirroring early turnout in the rest of Nova Scotia at about 25 per cent.
Katharina Cochrane is vice-president of the South Queens Chamber of Commerce.
“I think people are really dialed in on this election this time which in the past people (were) not really that interested, but even younger people, first-time voters, they’re very anxious about the whole situation with America. And in general, it’s not as easy to get yourself in a situation where you can afford a house or get a place, live a middle-class life.
“So I think people are very anxious to see some changes.”
Cochrane says some of the main concerns in the Liverpool area are housing, poverty and rural development.
“There’s a lot of low-income housing that needs to be built. We’re one of the poorest ridings, probably in Nova Scotia, so that needs to be addressed. And then the whole rural development for small businesses, like what can be done to help small businesses to get on their feet when they start up. Come up with maybe tax breaks that would be helpful for the community.”
She said the commercial fishery and the environmental impacts of open-pen fish farming are also among the issues at play.
At a recent candidates meet and greet in Liverpool, voters said the lucrative lobster fishery, the fear of Trump tariffs and the overall tenor of politics were on people’s minds.
Danielle Robertson of Port Joli said she wants to see the federal government enforce fisheries regulations to help protect an industry that generates close to $500 million for southwestern Nova Scotia.
Fishermen are upset with what they see as illegal fishing in the wake of the Marshall decisions that guaranteed Indigenous communities a moderate livelihood in the fishery.
“Where I live I can see evidence of abuse of the fishery and overfishing,” Robertson said.
“And I’ve talked to fisheries officers who feel like they’re not able to do their job. And I think our resources are really taking a hit. I think our fish are being overfished. And I’m really hoping that the federal government will step up and enforce their federal fishing policies.”
Conservative Perkins says he’s been a big advocate for fish harvesters since he was elected in 2021. And he says the Liberals haven’t done enough to crack down on poachers.
“We believe it begins with enforcing the law, and then sitting down once the law is enforced and people are abiding by the law and negotiating for more access for First Nations. As long as there’s no penalty and no enforcement, why would I come to the table to negotiate when the government lets me do whatever I want, whenever I want?”
Liberal Fancy-Landry says that she wants to bring all sides to the table, while acknowledging the Department of Fisheries and Oceans must be allowed to enforce the law.
“Another thing is how many of the fishermen have actually been brought to the table when policy and draft bills have been in place. So it’s that engagement piece,” she says.
“I think a lot of the time people feel disenfranchised or disempowered because they haven’t been asked to be at the table. … The line’s drawn in the sand right now with Conservative versus Liberal versus whatever party. It’s time for us to all come together and actually have some courageous conversations.”
Scot Slessor, a stained glass artist in Liverpool, says this election is an opportunity to tackle interprovincial trade barriers. But he says regardless of the issue, he wants more co-operation among the parties.
“I’m looking for people who are going to be willing to work together,” Slessor says.
“You know, we’ve seen that minority governments get a lot done for our country, but the way people are interacting has been extremely negative. And I’m really hopeful that we can bring that a little bit back to some civility.”
Rick Perkins, Jessica Fancy-Landry, Mark Embrett and Patrick Boyd are four of the candidates running in South Shore-St. Margarets.
QCCR has interviewed four of the candidates running in the riding of South Shore-St. Margarets in the April 28 federal election.
Conservative Rick Perkins, Liberal Jessica Fancy-Landry, the Green Party’s Mark Embrett and Patrick Boyd of the People’s Party of Canada spoke to us about various issues, including those specific to Queens County. Independent candidate Hayden Henderson did not respond to our request for an interview.
The riding covers more than 8,000 square kilometres and stretches from Tantallon outside Halifax to Clark’s Harbour in southwestern Nova Scotia. It was redrawn after the 2021 election and lost some its areas to the riding of Halifax West.
Conservative Rick Perkins defeated Liberal incumbent Bernadette Jordan in the 2021 election by about 1,800 votes. In that election, the NDP candidate got about 19 per cent of the vote.
This time, however, there is no declared NDP candidate. And the riding has lost some of its suburban Halifax voters after it was redrawn in 2023.
QCCR will be airing each of the four interviews with the candidates at 99.3 FM in Liverpool at 2:30 p.m. each day, beginning Thurs., April 24 through to April 27.
You can also follow the links below to listen to each of the interviews.
Patrick Boyd is the candidate for the People’s Party of Canada in South Shore-St. Margarets. (Rick Conrad)
Patrick Boyd is the candidate for the People’s Party of Canada in the April 28 federal election.
The consultant and hobby farmer lives in Sable River, Shelburne Co., and is a first-time candidate.
Conservative incumbent Rick Perkins, Liberal Jessica Fancy-Landry, the Greens’ Mark Embrett and Independent Hayden Henderson are the other candidates.
This is another in our series of interviews with candidates in the riding.
We asked Boyd about his and his party’s views on immigration and the temporary foreign worker program, as well as the commercial fishery and the prospect of a new kraft pulp mill in Queens County.
The interview was recorded on April 11 and edited for length.
