Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative leader Tim Houston waves to supporters after winning a majority government in the provincial election at the Pictou County Wellness Centre in New Glasgow, N.S., on Aug. 17, 2021.It was supposed to be a sleepy summer campaign that would reward the Nova Scotia Liberals for their handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
Mr. Houston, a 51-year-old chartered accountant, said his party made history despite predictions from “the pollsters and the pundits” and other “so-called experts” who projected a Liberal victory when the election began. The surprise election result also suggests polling data is increasingly unreliable, particularly when voters are thinking about life after the pandemic, said Dalhousie University’s Wayne MacKay.
“They didn’t feel there was any risk in changing governments. While the situation is a little different outside Atlantic Canada, in terms of case numbers, I think there’s a few slightly nervous federal Liberals right now.” “The Liberals called this election in the summer, and yet seemed totally unprepared to talk about health care,” said Chris Parsons, provincial co-ordinator of the Nova Scotia Health Coalition, a non-partisan, citizen-run group that advocates for public-health care. “This just played into the Tories’ hands.”
But he’s concerned that the Tories plan to privatize more aspects of the provincial health care network, including turning to corporations to operate new, for-profit long-term care facilities and tele-health services. This election also showed that voters have little appetite for austerity measures as the country emerges from the pandemic, Mr. Parsons said.