possible provincial election in nova scotia…

the next few weeks should be interesting in nova scotia… premier rod has a by-election to call in halifax-citadel.

word is that he might just pass on the by-election in halifax-citadel and call a general provincial election.

so this leaves me to wonder... how well the liberals are going to do in nova scotia?

our leader (francis 'homer simpson" mackenzie) is weak… no doubt about it, but i wonder if he is now in a better position then the pc’s leader to make gains. i say this because with the changing of the pc guard from hamm to RodMac has altered some regional perspectives on how many nova scotians might vote. for example premier rod is from cape breaton which is traditionally a liberal stronghold… will the presence of a pc in the cape change the cb voting trends? Will it weaken the liberal stronghold? i wouldn’t be surprised. if the liberals are forced to debate rural policy with premier rod i don’t think they have much of a chance. liberal rural policy is weak and inconsistent.

the above being said... i think with a liberal leader from mainland ns could pay off against a rural-cb-pc-leader. pc ridings in the annapolis valley such as hants west, kings south and kings north could benefit. however, i am not yet convinced that a mainland leader will pay off in the city… as former liberal leader danny graham (a mainlander) was unable to capitalize in the halifax metro area, which went to the ndp in many ridings.

so what are we left with … i think this election at the moment is the ndp’s to loose… they have the opportunity to pick up some vote splitting in cb and at the same time they have the prospect of dominating the metro region.

i think if we as liberals want to be at minimum the official opposition party we need to start working on focused rural policies and get that message out. we also need to get some solid policy out in 4 or 5 planks dealing with the environment, education and health care. from what i have heard nslp has been working on a platform for months, but nothing that has come out the platform sessions has had any long term reaction from the public. this worries me.

in other by-election news judi longfield, former whitby area mp is running for the liberals in whitby-ajax. judi was an excellent mp and I would suggest that anyone from the area that is interested in helping out should stop by the campaign office. ditto on the ben chin and brian ford campaigns as well….

anyways … that’s all for now.