Posted on 06/10/2009 3:18:02 AM PDT by Loyalist
A beaming Darrell Dexter took the stage at a Dartmouth hotel Tuesday night as the leader of Nova Scotia’s first-ever NDP government.
He and 30 other New Democrats will form a majority government. “Nova Scotians made a historic choice today,” Mr. Dexter told the crowd that included his wife Kelly, son Harris and 90-year old mother Florence.
“Who would believe that NDP-orange would cover Nova Scotia from Cumberland County ...,” he said, only to be drowned out by cheers. “Let me say that again. From Cumberland County, right down through the Valley as far south as Shelburne County and right on through to Cape Breton Island?”
It marks the first time since Nova Scotia became a province in 1867 that neither the Liberals nor Conservatives will be at the helm.
The Liberals, under leader Stephen McNeil, will form the Official Opposition after electing 11 MLAs. The Tories and Rodney MacDonald slid to 10 seats and third place in the legislature.
Mr. Dexter praised both of the other party leaders.
“It takes a lot to lead a political party, especially when the going gets tough,” he said.
He vowed to ensure that the decision that voters made would prove to be positive for Nova Scotia.
The premier-designate said today will be a workday, although most of the morning will be taken up with media interviews. He said he spoke with the Liberal and Tory leaders and will speak with Mr. MacDonald again today about when the House will sit again.
Mr. Dexter said he will announce his transition team soon and work out a date for cabinet to be sworn in. Sources say former NDP leader Robert Chisholm and labour lawyer Ray Larkin will head up that team.
Mr. Dexter dismissed the late-campaign controversy over the NDP’s union ties.
“I have never had anyone ask me for anything,” he told reporters. “Those people who contribute to campaigns, they do so because they want to do so, because they want good government, not because they are out there for something in return. I’m committed to governing this province on behalf of all the people and that’s the way I’ll conduct business.”
As for Mr. MacDonald, he wouldn’t talk about his future Tuesday night, except to say he plans to meet with his Tory caucus and party executive Thursday or Friday.
“It’s time for us to turn to the next chapter,” Mr. MacDonald, who has been party leader since February 2006, said in his concession speech at a hall in his home village of Mabou.
He listed his government’s accomplishments, from the $870-million Crown share settlement with the federal government to freezing university tuitions to extending Pharmacare to working families, but he said he respects the decision of the voters.
“They’ve said it’s time for a change,” he said.
In Bridgetown, the Liberal leader pledged to continue to provide a strong voice in the legislature.
“Our work is not over, rather a new phase has begun,” Mr. McNeil told supporters. “Tonight is a good night to be a Liberal in Annapolis.”
The polls closed at 7 p.m. and by 7:30 p.m., CBC-TV had declared an NDP government. Twenty minutes later, the broadcaster said it would be a majority government.
Longtime Tory Brooke Taylor, who did not re-offer in this election, told the network it was clear “the political winds of change are blowing.”
“Quite frankly, we may be seen as a 10-year-old government,” Mr. Taylor, who last served as transportation minister.
The Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley seat Mr. Taylor held for nearly 16 years went to New Democrat Gary Burrill, a United Church minister.
TV commentator Jane Purves, a former journalist and Tory cabinet minister, said the people are obviously no longer afraid of the NDP.
“I don’t think aliens have just taken over the province,” she said.
The Conservatives had hoped to make a comeback in Queens, a seat the party held for more than 50 years until 2006 when New Democrat Vicki Conrad toppled then-cabinet minister Kerry Morash by a mere 55 votes. The Tories had chalked up that loss to the Liberals not running a candidate.
But even with a Liberal in the race this time, Ms. Conrad held on, winning by a margin of more than 2,000 votes.
Nine cabinet ministers went down to defeat.
Education Minister Judy Streatch, who was first elected as MLA for Chester-St. Margarets in a 2005 byelection, lost to New Democrat Denise Peterson-Rafuse. In Lunenburg West, Natural Resources Minister Carolyn Bolivar-Getson was defeated by New Democrat Gary Ramey.
Energy Minister Barry Barnet, who was embroiled in a controversy last year when he was health promotion minister over the government’s decision to buy 66 kiddie-sized all-terrain vehicles, lost in Hammonds Plains-Upper Sackville to NDP candidate Mat Whynott, who is just 23.
Immigration Minister Len Goucher, a former Halifax regional councillor who knocked out then-Liberal leader Francis MacKenzie in 2006, fell to Grit Kelly Regan, the wife of Halifax West MP Geoff Regan, in Bedford-Birch Cove.
Tourism Minister Bill Dooks lost his Eastern Shore seat to New Democrat Sid Prest and Labour Minister Mark Parent lost in Kings North to New Democrat Jim Morton, a manager for addiction services with Annapolis Valley Health.
Environment Minister David Morse lost his seat in Kings South to New Democrat Ramona Jennex.
Fisheries Minister Ron Chisholm, who warned earlier this year that if the NDP formed government, “rural Nova Scotia may as well kiss their ass goodbye because she is all over,” lost his seat to New Democrat Jim Boudreau, a school teacher.
Pat Dunn, minister of health promotion and protection, lost Pictou Centre to New Democrat Ross Landry. The Tories had held the seat since the 1970s and it was the riding of former premier John Hamm from 1993 to 2006.
Ernie Fage, booted out of the Tory caucus after his 2007 conviction of failing to remain at the scene of an accident, failed to keep his Cumberland North seat as an Independent. Mr. Fage was re-elected in 2006 by a large margin, even after he was embroiled in a controversy when he was economic development minister and his department issued a $250,000 loan to a potato farm that leased land from him.
But this time around, New Democrat Brian Skabar was victorious.
New Democrat Pam Birdsall captured the Lunenburg seat, which had been held by Tory Michael Baker until his death from cancer earlier this year.
Another New Democrat, Lenore Zann, a well-established actress who made headlines before the campaign when a Liberal campaign worker released a still photo from a television role in which she was topless, took Truro-Bible Hill, previously held by Tory Jamie Muir, who did not re-offer. Ms. Zann jokingly thanked the Liberal team for helping her win.
A Tory source said the party polls for the last 12 months have been projecting this kind of result.
“It’s been known for the last year that the odds have been very uphill for us,” the source said.
And that was reflected in polls, with NDP support reaching as high as 47 per cent among decided voters in a poll made public last week.
But there was no NDP sweep of metro Halifax, the party’s stronghold.
In Halifax-Clayton Park, Diana Whalen, the Liberal party’s deputy leader, successfully fought off New Democrat Linda Power, a retired nurse and former executive director of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union.
And one New Democrat incumbent lost. Joan Massey, the MLA for Dartmouth East since 2003, was beaten by Liberal Andrew Younger, a Halifax regional councillor.
The election campaign began on May 5, the day after the government fell on a bill that would have changed the law that requires offshore offset payments from the Atlantic accord to go toward the debt.
At dissolution last month, the Tories held 21 seats, the NDP 20 and the Liberals nine, with one Independent and one vacancy.
In 1920, the Tories’ share of the overall vote hit a low of 24.7 per cent. Tuesday’s showing was hovering around 24.5 per cent.
With David Jackson, provincial reporter
The fact is, Dexter has been calling for more fiscal restraint ever since Rodney McDoofus started destroying the political high ground that prior premier John Hamm left him.
Rodney plays the fiddle, and Nero fiddled while Rome burned, coincidence?
I think not.
Dexter will do just fine, and the NDP will prove to be more responsible than the lying Liberals and the red Tories because they want to be in for MORE than 4 years.
The Liberals and PC (’Progressive Conservative’) Party have just been taking turns at the public trough for the entire history of that province, it’s time their monopoly on political power was broken, and the voters agreed.
Won`t work.
The marxist/socialist party won`t be able to help themselves trying to institute their hippie agenda of solar panels, windmills, free everything for everybody.
Balance the budget? Perhaps, but only via confiscatory tax rates that will drive capital and business into the hands of the other Provinces. And if the adjoining Provinces are smart they`ll start poaching now and entice companies with tax breaks to leave NS while they can.
I think that what is being overlooked is that the NDP, after being on the sidelines for so long, are not going to screw the pooch because they want to be power for more than 4 years.
Darrell Dexter is no dummy, he understands the political realities, which is why everyone woke up this morning in Nova Scotia hearing the words ‘premier-designate Darrell Dexter’.
Yup. We’ll see how long that new NDP government lasts. At least it will serve a wake-up call to the Tories to stop acting like our RINO wankers (then again...)...
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