NDP, Liberals set leadership dates

The Nova Scotia NDP will pick a new leader in June.

The party issued a news release Jan. 30 saying voting will open June 20 and close June 25.

Current NDP Leader Gary Burrill announced his resignation in November but will stay on as MLA for Halifax Chebucto.

Leadership hopefuls will have until May 21 to register as a candidate. Anyone looking to vote in the leadership has until May 30 to sign up as a member of the party.

Tom Urbaniak, a Cape Breton University political science professor, said the party was wise to give candidates until May 21 to identify themselves. But he suggests a longer lag time between the nomination deadline and the actual vote might have helped to grow support for the party.

“This would permit many debates among the candidates and an opportunity to generate interest in communities where the NDP is currently weak," Urbaniak said.

In last summer’s election, the NDP garnered 21 per cent of the popular vote, struggling to build support in rural Nova Scotia.

In the seven Annapolis Valley ridings, only one NDP candidate managed to get 26 per cent of the vote. In the five Central Nova ridings, only one candidate had 17 per cent of the vote.

Only one of the party’s five MLAs represents an area outside of metro Halifax. Kendra Coombes narrowly defeated Liberal Michelle Wilson by 121 votes to take the Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier riding.

“The NDP has a huge amount of work to do in rural and small-town Nova Scotia,” Urbaniak said. "A vibrant leadership race can be used to make inroads. Even postindustrial Cape Breton has become challenging for the Nova Scotia NDP. In the last election, they had hoped to do far better than the one seat. And even there, it was close."

Popular Dartmouth South MLA Claudia Chender has said she’s considering a leadership bid.

Party members in good standing are eligible to enter the race. Leadership hopefuls are required to pay an entry fee of $5,000 and submit registration papers with signatures of 50 party members in good standing. Signatures must also come from at least seven electoral district associations, and at least half of which must be women or gender diverse.

The Nova Scotia Liberal Party also announced details of its leadership convention to replace current Leader Iain Rankin.

In a Jan. 30 news release, the Liberals said their convention is scheduled for July 9, with a candidate registration fee of $25,000.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 considerations, the election will be conducted via electronic and phone voting. The vote will be by preferential ballot using the weighted onemember, one-vote model.

Rankin went into last summer’s election campaign with a large lead in the polls but succumbed to the Tories led by Tim Houston, who ran a campaign based on improving the health-care system.

Rankin will remain in his role as MLA for TimberleaProspect after his replacement is chosen.

The party’s leadership organizing committee will release the complete rules of procedure Feb. 14.

“We look forward to our leadership candidates engaging Liberals in a robust conversation about the future of Nova Scotia,” party president Joseph Khoury said in the release.