Houston leads PC Party to record-breaking victory in provincial election

The provincial election Tuesday night saw premier Tim Houston and the PC Party win a historic victory, netting them the most seats out of any political party in Nova Scotia’s history.

The Progressive Conservative Party gained enough ground to form not just a majority but a supermajority, which requires at least two-thirds of the House of Assembly’s 55 seats. They scored 43 seats after previously holding 31, comfortably surpassing the 37-seat threshold for a supermajority. This also smashes the previous record for the most seats occupied by a political party in Nova Scotia, set by the PCs led by John Buchanan in the 1984 provincial election.

This election was also the shortest legally allowed by Nova Scotia law, having been called early by Houston on Oct 27, giving parties and their candidates just one month to campaign. This decision broke one of Houston’s 2021 election promises and went against the first law his party passed when taking power—having fixed election dates.

As Houston swept up seats across the province, the NSNDP also gained seats. The former third-place party came out as the official opposition with nine seats, gaining three from their previous total of six. The last time the NSNDP became the official opposition party was in 2006 under Darrell Dexter’s leadership.

NDP candidates Lisa Hamid and Rod Wilson beat Liberal incumbents Patricia Arab and Ali Duale for their seats in Fairview-Clayton Park and Halifax Armdale, respectively. Paul Wozney barely surpassed PC candidate Paul Russell in taking Sackville-Cobequid from the Liberals. The NSNDP also had a hard-fought battle in Clayton Park West, with their candidate Wendy Hood-Morris narrowly losing out to PC Adegoke Fadare for the formerly Liberal-held seat.

The Liberals lost most of their seats to the PC Party and NSNDP, going from 17 seats before the election to just two now—their worst performance in the party’s history. Leader Zach Churchill lost his seat in Yarmouth to PC Nick Hilton by a mere 14-vote difference according to Elections Nova Scotia’s preliminary count. The only seats left to the Liberals in the provincial legislature are Timberlea-Prospect and Sydney-Membertou. They lost seats across the province, including districts such as Clare, Annapolis, Kings South, Hammonds Plains-Lucasville, Cole Harbour-Dartmouth, Bedford South and Bedford Basin.

Tories get a supermajority

The PC Party’s supermajority means they are free to alter the way things work in the House of Assembly. To change procedures requires two-thirds of the House to vote in favour, and now that they have the numbers they need, the PCs won’t need support from the opposition to do so. As CBC reports, these procedures have often been used as tools by the opposition to slow legislation from being passed.

To many, the PC’s overwhelming win was no surprise. Before the election was called, Narrative Research polling saw over half of those surveyed saying they would vote for Tim Houston and his party if an election were to happen. During the election, further polling from Narrative Research saw Houston and his party leading by 44%.

Houston made several promises on the campaign trail, including axing bridge fares in Halifax and cutting the HST by 1%. During his victory speech, Houston spoke of “standing up for veterans so they can wear their uniform wherever they want,” referencing a controversial decision by Sackville Heights Elementary during their Remembrance Day ceremony. He also said he would fight the federal carbon tax—despite not having an alternative plan to cap carbon emissions—and would continue to fight with the feds on covering the costs of the Chignecto Isthmus repairs.

Whether Houston and his party live up to their promises or not, The Coast will continue to cover provincial matters that affect the people of Halifax. If you want to follow along, check out our daily newsletter, where we shared a bingo card to help you keep track of Houston’s election promises.

For now, here are all the candidates who won within HRM with preliminary results from Elections Nova Scotia. We will continue to update this list as more results become available.

Bedford Basin

Winner: Tim Outhit (PC) — 3,688 votes

Doris Robbins (Liberal) — 1,311 votes

Ryan Lutes (NSNDP) — 1,136 votes

Bedford South

Winner: Damian Stoilov (PC) — 2,888 votes

Braedon Clark (Liberal, incumbent) — 2,786 votes

Isaac G. Wilson (NSNDP) — 1,243 votes

Ron G. Parker (Green Party) — 85 votes

Chester-St. Margaret’s

Winner: Danielle Barkhouse (PC, incumbent) — 4,776 votes

Laura Mulrooney (Liberal) — 2,160 votes

Brendan Mosher (NSNDP) — 1,290 votes

Clayton Park West

Winner: Adegoke Fadare (PC) — 2,096 votes

Wendy Hood-Morris (NSNDP) — 2,010 votes

Elizabeth Eustaquio-Domondon (Liberal) — 1,807 votes

Cole Harbour

Winner: Leah Martin (PC, incumbent) — 1,963 votes

Alec Stratford (NSNDP) —- 1,753 votes

Tania Meloni (Liberal) —- 886 votes

John E. McStay (Green Party) — 71 votes

Cole Harbour-Dartmouth

Winner: Brad McGowan (PC) — 4,243 votes

Kayley Dixon (NSNDP) — 2,079 votes

Vishal Bhardwaj (Liberal) — 1,894 votes

Dartmouth East

Winner: Timothy Halman (PC, incumbent) — 3,282 votes

Holly Fraughton (NSNDP) — 2,210 votes

Stacy Chesnutt (Liberal) — 1,718 votes

Dartmouth North

Winner: Susan LeBlanc (NSNDP, incumbent) — 3,696 votes

Karina Sanford (PC) — 1,349 votes

Pam Cooley (Liberal) — 826 votes

Dartmouth South

Winner: Claudia Chender (NSNDP, incumbent) — 4,415 votes

Bea MacGregor (PC) — 1,449 votes

Barb Henderson (Liberal) — 585 votes

Eastern Passage

Winner: Barbara Adams (PC, incumbent) — 2,754 votes

Chris Peters (Liberal) — 1,110 votes

Tammy Jakeman (Independent) — 456 votes

Eastern Shore

Winner: Kent Smith (PC Party, incumbent) — 4,594 votes

Doyle Safire (Liberal) — 1,440 votes

Don Carney (NSNDP) — 1,231 votes

Kevin Conrod (Green Party) — 197 votes

Fairview-Clayton Park

Winner: Lina Hamid (NSNDP) — 2,426 votes

Nicole Mosher (PC) — 2,007 votes

Patricia Arab (Liberal, incumbent) — 1,780 votes

Halifax Armdale

Winner: Rod Wilson (NSNDP) — 2,510 votes

Craig Myra (PC) — 2,287 votes

Ali Duale (Liberal, incumbent) — 1,598 votes

Halifax Atlantic

Winner: Brendan Maguire (PC, incumbent) — 3,879 votes

Cathy Cervin (NSNDP) — 1,883 votes

Phil Chisholm (Liberal) — 911 votes

Gadfly Stratton (Green Party) — 84 votes

Halifax Chebucto

Winner: Krista Gallagher (NSNDP) — 3,682 votes

Tonya Malay (PC) — 1,577 votes

Gerard Bray (Liberal) — 1,413 votes

Jonathan Bradet-Legris (Green Party) — 120 votes

Halifax Citadel-Sable Island

Winner: Lisa Lachance (NSNDP, incumbent) — 3,903 votes

Eleanor Humphries (PC) — 1,908 votes

Rob Grace (Liberal) — 1,440 votes

Karen Beazley (Green Party) — 159 votes

Halifax Needham

Winner: Suzy Hansen (NSNDP, incumbent) — 5,063 votes

Trayvone Clayton (PC) — 1,276 votes

Jon Frost (Liberal) — 1,003 votes

Amethyste Hamel-Gregory (Green Party) — 127 votes

Hammonds Plains-Lucasville

Winner: Rick Burns (PC) — 4,068 votes

Ben Jessome (Liberal, incumbent) — 3,528 votes

Terry J. Eyland (NSNDP) — 988 votes

Roger Croll (Green Party) — 77 votes

Hants East

Winner: John A. MacDonald (PC, incumbent) — 4,614 votes

Abby Cameron (NSNDP) — 1,696 votes

Shannon MacWilliam (Liberal) — 1,050 votes

Sackville-Cobequid

Winner: Paul Wozney (NDP) — 2,839 votes

Paul Russell (PC) — 2,766 votes

Agatha Bourassa (Liberal) — 724 votes

Sackville-Uniacke

Winner: Brad Johns (PC, incumbent) — 2,914 votes

Lisa Blackburn (NSNDP) — 2,516 votes

Thomas Trappenberg (Liberal) — 515 votes

Timberlea-Prospect

Winner: Iain Rankin (Liberal, incumbent) — 4,945 votes

Trish MacDonald (PC) — 2,881 votes

Rose Gillam (NSNDP) — 1,060 votes

Jane Matheson (Green Party) — 130 votes

Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank

Winner: Brian Wong (PC, incumbent) — 6,079 votes

Elizabeth Booth (Liberal) — 2,210 votes

Donna McCarthy (NSNDP) — 1,926 votes

Anthony Edmonds (Green Party) — 454 votes

This article appears in Nov 7-30, 2024.