Rick Perkins, Jessica Fancy-Landry, Mark Embrett and Patrick Boyd are four of the candidates running in South Shore-St. Margarets. Not pictured is Hayden Henderson.
Four people will be trying to unseat Rick Perkins as the South Shore-St. Margarets representative in the April 28 federal election.
Perkins beat Liberal MP Bernadette Jordan in 2021, after running unsuccessfully against her in 2019.
Since the last election, the riding has been redrawn, with part of it being absorbed into Halifax West. Nominations closed on Monday.
Liberal Jessica Fancy-Landry will be trying to take the seat back from Perkins. The teacher at Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin is originally from Caledonia and lives in Bridgewater.
Green Party candidate Mark Embrett is an implementation scientist with Nova Scotia Health and lives in Hubbards.
Patrick Boyd is running for the People’s Party of Canada. He runs a consulting firm.
The NDP don’t have a registered candidate in the riding. Their declared candidate Brendan Mosher dropped out at the last minute. According to a Facebook post on his candidate page on Tuesday, he said that he decided against running “after a long consideration and some last minute delays.”
He edited the post to say that Hayden Henderson would be running for the party in the riding.
Henderson is listed on the Elections Canada website as an Independent. According to the federal agency, “if an endorsement by a political party cannot be confirmed within 48 hours of the prospective candidate submitting their nomination paper, … the word ‘Independent’ (will) appear under their name on the ballot.”
Perkins won South Shore-St. Margarets in 2021 by about 2,000 votes, or 40 per cent. Jordan got 37 per cent, while the NDP’s Olivia Dorey captured 19 per cent.
QCCR plans to publish interviews with all candidates.
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.
