Campaign Update

2009-06-05 06:22:03

Just to highlight how important the five ridings are in this campaign, both the NDP and the Conservatives are criss-crossing the south shore today.  Rodney MacDonald will be in Lunenburg with Peter Zwicker this morning before heading out with Carolyn Bolivar-Getson in Bridgewater this afternoon and then it's off to Liverpool with Kerry Morash this evening.  Darrell Dexter will be in Lunenburg this morning for a campaign statement at the Fisheries Museum at ten, before heading to Mahone Bay with Pam Birdsall. He then will be off to Wolfville this afternoon.  Stephen McNeil will be in and around Halifax this morning before heading to Stewiacke, Guysborough and Antigonish.

Two political scientists say the chances of the New Democrats forming a government may be decided in close races in rural Nova Scotia on Tuesday.    David Johnson of Cape Breton University says there's strong evidence the N-D-P has consolidated its lead in most Halifax ridings.    He says a breakthrough victory would be the result of a ``two-decade haul'' of ground work.    Jennifer Smith at Dalhousie University also says she believes the party's hold is strong in Halifax.    However, both long-time observers of party politics say it's much harder to call what will happen in smaller ridings.    That includes ridings like Queens, where just a few hundred votes in the south shore district may decide the outcome in three-way races.    Smith notes when the N-D-P won in Queens in the last election, there was no Liberal candidate, and this race is ``too close to call.'' (The Canadian Press)

Friday Politics

2009-06-01 06:19:43

Liberals in Lunenburg West are challenging a statement by Conservative Candidate Carolyn Bolivar-Getson.  Mark Furey is speaking out against a statement she made at a debate in Bridgewater this week.  Bolivar-Getson made the claim her Conservative government had produced eight consecutive balanced budgets.  Furey adamantely denies that.  He says the only way they could have balanced the spring budget was if they broke the rules.  A proposed amendment to the Finance Act had to pass for the Conservative financial plan to balance. That change would have allowed them to spend extra money on programs instead of putting it on the province's 12-billion dollar debt.  Furey says it's time for the Conservative government to be accountable for their actions and realize Nova Scotians are smarter than that.

Political rhetoric, or a pledge to set the record straight?   Pam Birdsall has paid for a print ad to refute what she says are untrue statements by Premier Rodney MacDonald.   The NDP candidate in Lunenburg says the premier claimed publicly the Firefighter tax credit would be cancelled if the government changed.  Birdsall says the $500 credit for 2009 is law and was approved in the Legislature in 2007 with the NDP fully supporting the measure.  She says the election makes no difference to the law or the ammendment extending it to ground search and rescue along with firefighters.

Judy Streatch is calling on the South Shore Region School board to keep Big Tancook Elementary school open.  The facility is one of the last one-room schools in the country and it sits on an island in the waters of Mahone Bay.  Declining enrollments at the school in recent years have lead board members to order an impact assessment report.  Streatch says Big Tancook Elementary has a long standing history of educating the children who call the islands home.  She adds it is a wonderful school in a unique situation and she says that has to be remembered in any move forward plan for the P-5 facility.  It's thought there will be an enrollment of between five and ten students over the next five years.  Streatch says she does not support closing Big Tancook Elementary and will work to make sure parents have input on where their kids are educated.

It's a political challenge of a different sort. Rick Welsford, the Liberal candidate in the riding of Lunenburg has challenged the other candidates to remove their signs from the Towns lawns and gardens. Welsford issued his challenge during his closing remarks of a candidates debate in Lunenburg last night.  He planned to remove his signs immediately after leaving the debate.

Leaders Tour

2009-05-07 09:33:24

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter hits the south shore area to campaign with local candidates today.  Dexter will be doing some mainstreeting at the Bridgewater Mall Plaza with Lunenburg West candidate Gary Ramey at noontime. At 2 o'clock this afternoon the Provincial New Democrat leader will tour Composites Atlantic in Lunenburg with Pam Birdsall who's running for the NDP in the Lunenburg riding. Later in the afternoon Dexter will join  candidate Denise Peterson Rafuse for a meet and greet at the NDP Campaign Headquarters for Chester-St. Margaret's at 4171 Highway 3 in Chester.  Dexter will also pay a visit to Shoreham Village.

After an intense day of Campaigning on the south shore including an appearance at the Lunenburg nomination meeting, Premier MacDonald is in Pictou county today. Peter Zwicker was elected as the Conservative's candidate for the Lunenburg riding last night.

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil will be in the valley campaigning today.