Rodney Macdonald wins Nova Scotia Election

I would like to congratulate Rodney Macdonald on his successful re-election. Although it was a slightly weaker minority, 23 seats vs. 25 seats before, he increased his popular vote by 3% and got a greater share of the popular vote than the Nova Scotia PCs did in 1999. They also came in first on Cape Breton Island, which was a big surprise as that area traditionally goes Liberal. Although a federal Liberal, I am a former Progressive Conservative and since Rodney Macdonald is clearly a Tory rather than a Reformer in Tory drag like Harper, I would have supported him. Considering he got almost 10% of the popular vote more than Harper did in Nova Scotia, it appears other Nova Scotians feel the same way. I am also relieved the NDP didn't win. After seeing them wreck my own province in the 90s, I would hate to see them do the same thing to Nova Scotia. The good thing is they have been very cooperative in opposition and I am sure they can continue to make this upcoming session work.

This was certainly a bitterly disappointing election for the Liberals. They won fewer seats and even their leader couldn't win his own seat. There is no question that Francis Mackenzie will need to step down as leader. However, I don't think the Liberals are totally at fault. As pointed out on CBC, unlike in past elections, there was little to distinguish the three parties. The NDP were more centrist than in the past and their federal counterparts while Rodney Macdonald was also more centrist than John Hamm and especially Stephen Harper. This essentially squeezed the Liberals out. It will be interesting to see if Nova Scotia, becomes like British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and most European countries where you have a centre-right party vs. a centre-left party while no middle party.

For those federal Tories cheering at the results, I would not read too much into this. Many progressive Liberals went NDP while many Blue Liberals went PC, but I don't think they will necessarily automatically come over to their federal counterparts. I especially cannot see Harper winning either of the Cape Breton Island ridings next election. I suspect Macdonald's strong showing on Cape Breton Island had more to do with the fact he came from there since traditionally the Tories both federally and provincially fare poorly there.