Nova Scotia Tories to choose new party leader Saturday

Nova Scotia’s Opposition Progressive Conservatives are looking for a fresh start this weekend with a leadership convention they hope will propel them into the government benches after the next provincial election.

The convention begins Friday with speeches from five candidates – three men and two women – after a campaign race that started when former party leader Jamie Baillie announced he would step down as leader in November, then resigned in January amid unspecified allegations of inappropriate behaviour. The candidates include perceived front-runner and Tory caucus member Tim Houston, Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Cecil Clarke, caucus members John Lohr and Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, and Julie Chaisson, executive director of the Halifax Seaport Market. All five have spent months travelling the province to sign up party members, a process that saw more than 11,600 people purchase memberships. “That’s tremendous to have that level of response, particularly in this era of disengagement with politics,” Nova Scotia PC party president Tara Miller said in an interview earlier this week. Miller said the membership surge was the result of people responding to the messages of the candidates, and also to an optimistic feeling within party ranks.

Lori Turnbull, a political scientist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said that kind of bullishness isn’t just partisan spin.

Turnbull said the Tories are well aware that voters in other provinces – most recently Quebec and Ontario – have dumped their Liberal governments in favour of right-leaning parties, and it appears New Brunswickers are poised to do the same in the days ahead.