Nova Scotia elects new premier

Aug 18, 2021

The Progressive Conservatives will form the government for the first time since 2006

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Nova Scotians voted for change on Tuesday.

The Progressive Conservatives (PC), led by premier-designate Tim Houston, won in 31 of the province’s 55 seats to earn a majority government.

A party needs 28 to form a majority.

The Liberals won 17 seats, the NDP won six seats and an independent MLA captured one.

This victory marks the first time the PC party will form the government since 2006 when Premier Rodney MacDonald had a minority government. The Liberals have been in power ever since.

Tim Houston “Regardless of what the polls may say, what we know is that if you provide real solutions to real problems then the voters will pay attention,” he said during his victory speech. “Not just in here in Nova Scotia, but in all of Canada, we proved that just because there is a pandemic doesn’t mean government gets a free pass.”

The PC platform focused heavily on health care, but it did include some items related to agriculture:

The party’s Nova Scotia Loyal plan establishes measures to increase local food consumption by participating in a loyalty rewards program, and
The PCs committed to engaging in discussions with ag and other sectors to determine how to make more environmentally conscious progress.

Premier-designate Houston hasn’t made any indications about who will be in his cabinet.

But the party’s agriculture critic, John Lohr, a farmer and agri-business entrepreneur, won his riding of Kings North with 3,971 votes. He won by more than 1,300 votes over Liberal candidate Geof Turner.

Former premier and leader of the Nova Scotia Liberals Iain Rankin becomes the first premier to lose a re-election bid during a pandemic campaign.

In 2020, New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs won re-election as did NDP Premier John Horgan in British Columbia.

Farms.com has contacted ag groups in Nova Scotia for comment on working with a new government.

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.