(Eastern Shore city councillor David Hendsbee presents newly elected MLA Kent Smith with a Nova Scotia flag.)
By Richard Bell
It was the PC’s night across the province, as the party’s candidates won a solid majority of 30 of the 55 seats at stake. Premier Iain Rankin held on to his seat, but his party dropped from 26 seats down to 16.
Eastern Shore Riding
In the Eastern Shore riding, the PC’s Kent Smith defeated the Liberal incumbent Kevin Murphy and the NDP’s Deirdre Dwyer. In an interview at his election headquarters, a beaming Smith praised is campaign team. “I was a small cog in the wheel that made this happen,” Smith said. “My team told me to go out, knock on doors, share the party’s message, and listen to people’s stories and concerns. I knocked on almost 4,000 doors, from Lawrencetown to Ecum Secum.”
Smith’s company is currently transforming the former elementary school in Jeddore to affordable housing units. “When I was door-knocking, people told me housing was a critical issue, second only to their worries about health care,” Smith said. “The program to incentivize developers to build affordable housing is a great program, but the wait times and the delays are almost a deterrent for developers who want to build affordable housing.” Smith said he would be working on housing issues in the legislature. He also congratulated his opponents for their respective campaigns.
Preston Riding
In the newly created Preston riding, Liberal Angela Simmonds defeated the PC’s Archie Beal and the NDP’s Colter Simmonds.
Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley Riding
The PC’s incumbent, Larry Harrington, easily defeated the Liberal’s Rhonda MacLellan and the NDP’s Janet Moulton.
[This report is based on Elections Nova Scotia’s unofficial vote tallies as of 11:35 PM, August 17, 2021].
