Kim Masland was re-elected Tuesday as MLA for Queens in Nova Scotia’s provincial election. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED Nov. 27, 4 p.m.

It’s a threepeat for Kim Masland, who will once again represent the riding of Queens in the Nova Scotia legislature.

The Liverpool resident easily won re-election on Tuesday night. It’s her third win in a row.

Masland told QCCR on Tuesday night that she doesn’t take any election for granted. 

“It’s fabulous, I’m just so grateful to the voters of Queens who have put their trust in me to represent them again in the Nova Scotia legislature,” she said.

“I do not take the position of MLA lightly. I know it comes with great responsibility and I’m just absolutely humbled and consider myself very blessed to once again represent the people of Queens. And I will keep working hard for us.”

The former Public Works minister and government House leader will again be part of a Progressive Conservative majority government.

Masland garnered 79.93 per cent of the vote. Turnout in Queens was 46.91 per cent.

In the 2021 election, Masland won the riding with 70.4 per cent of the vote. Turnout in 2021 was 57.8 per cent.

Liberal Cathy De Rome of Beach Meadows was in second, while the NDP’s Brian Skabar was in third.

De Rome told QCCR on Wednesday that she wasn’t surprised by Masland’s win and she wishes her well. 

“I was so happy to be able to talk to so many people and the response I received and the encouragement was very positive. Unfortunately, all the words of encouragement did not translate into more votes. … And hey, we knew it was an uphill battle from the get-go. We were disappointed but yet we’re pleased with what we did.”

Skabar could not be reached for comment.

The Progressive Conservatives under leader Tim Houston won their second majority government with 43 seats. The NDP will form the official Opposition with nine seats, while the Liberals held onto two.

Masland said she knocked on more than 6,000 doors and logged more 880,000 steps during the campaign. 

She credited her team with working hard to put her back in the legislature.

“I had an absolutely amazing team behind me here in Queens County. My campaign manager is Grant Webber, he’s been with me since the beginning.

“And you can’t win an election campaign by yourself. It takes hard work, it takes people believing in you. The people on my team they put their lives on hold to be part of this team for the benefit of Queens County, their own community. I’m very grateful for them and really glad that I can spend this evening celebrating with my team and my family.”

She said the late John Leefe, who was a longtime PC MLA for Queens and a former mayor of the Region of Queens, gave her advice that has stuck with her.

“As my dear friend and mentor John Leefe always said to me, you run a campaign as if you’re one vote behind. And that is how we have run this campaign. We never give up. We did not stop until the polls closed tonight, and I’m just very, very pleased with the campaign that we’ve run here.”

Turnout across the province appears to be lower than in 2021. Elections Nova Scotia hasn’t released official numbers yet, but it appears that turnout was around 45 per cent, compared to 55.1 per cent in 2021.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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QCCR acknowledges the support of the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative

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.

RELATED: Trying to beat Masland in Queens tough but rewarding, challengers say

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.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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QCCR acknowledges the support of the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative.

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.

PARTY PLATFORMS:

• Progressive Conservatives
• Liberals
• NDP

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.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Tim Cranston is the new chairman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board. (Facebook)

By Rick Conrad

The chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board is out and a new chairman is in.

Groups getting ready for hearings into a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay got a surprise this week when they were told chairwoman Jean McKenna is no longer on the board, and that hearings set for March 4 to 8 in Liverpool are cancelled.

Her replacement is Tim Cranston, who was appointed to the board on Feb. 16, 2023, and who ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the last provincial election.

Cranston is a lawyer with 20-plus years’ experience for two marine biotech companies, according to his biography on the review board’s website. He also owned and operated two rockweed leases during that time. And he was the co-founder of Natural Ocean Products.

As a candidate for the Tories in Halifax Atlantic, he lost to Liberal MLA Brendan Maguire.

(Nova Scotia PC Party Facebook page)

Cranston was appointed to the review board for a three-year term by then Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Steve Craig.

Former chairwoman McKenna had been reappointed member and chairwoman at the same time as Cranston. But according to the list of recent appointments to agencies, boards and commissions as of Feb. 16, 2023, her term expired on Feb. 15, 2024. McKenna is still listed as the chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Police Review Board.

Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law represents one of the intervenors, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay. Simpson said he received a “high priority” email on Tuesday from the board’s clerk telling him that the March hearing dates were cancelled and that McKenna was no longer on the board.

“Certainly, it came out of the blue and at a fairly late stage of planning for this hearing. From my experience, I’ve certainly never seen or heard of a decision maker being switched right where we’re in mid-stride here just getting ready to go into the first scheduled portion of the hearing coming up in early March just a couple of weeks away here. So it was quite surprising, that’s for sure.” 

Simpson said the board gave no reason. The board had also set aside April 2 to 5 for the hearing at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool. Simpson said those dates still stand.

“It’s no small feat to get several days in a row scheduled among all the diverse parties here, so it’s a challenge. So when they had the March dates nailed down it was an accomplishment and to see them cancelled, it’s a shock. But I can only guess that that has to do with the new chair needing time to get up to speed.”  

Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied to the board in 2019 for an expansion of their fish farm operation in Liverpool Bay. 

Kelly Cove wants to increase its farm near Coffin Island to 20 pens from 14 and to include trout as well as salmon. It also wants to set up 40 pens at two new sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. It could mean up to 1.8 million farmed salmon in the bay, compared to about 400,000 now.

More than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.

Joel Richardson, spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture, said Wednesday he was waiting for more information from the board.

“I’m really not offering any additional comment on it. We’ll have our communication with them and we’ll go from there.”

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston came out against the project at an event organized by the South Queens Chamber of Commerce in Liverpool on Feb. 7. 

“I think some areas are great for aquaculture and I think that some others are maybe not the best place for it.

“On this specific question on Liverpool Bay, … I personally don’t think Liverpool Bay is a suitable place for it. That’s my personal opinion. I respect the process, the independent review board will do their process and will have hearings. They’ll do their thing. But my personal opinion is I don’t think Liverpool Bay is a suitable place for it.”

Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, has spoken against the expansion since she was an Opposition MLA. She also repeated her stand against it at the same event.

Masland submitted a letter to the review board, but it was rejected because it said that it had to be free of the “appearance of any possible influence” by elected officials.

QCCR asked the review board for comment on the delay and on McKenna’s status.

In an email, board clerk Stacy Bruce referred questions about board appointments to the minister of fisheries and aquaculture.

“Information about the upcoming public hearing in Liverpool on applications by Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. Is posted on the Board’s website,” he wrote. 

Bruce said new hearing dates would be posted on the board’s website when they’re available.

A spokesperson for Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kent Smith could not be reached Wednesday.

Lawyer Jamie Simpson says that despite the “bizarre” turn of events, he and his clients continue to prepare for the hearings.

“Looking forward to representing the interests of the lobster fishermen with respect to the potential impact of this massive aquaculture site on their livelihoods and also the ability it would have to navigate safely through Liverpool Bay.” 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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