NDP to become Official Opposition as Liberal vote collapses in N.S. election

New Democrats will form the next Official Opposition in Nova Scotia, as the Liberal vote collapsed across the province in Tuesday's provincial election and the Progressive Conservatives cemented another majority government.

The NDP kept all of the seats it held at dissolution and was poised to pick up a handful more in the Halifax area, although a hoped-for breakthrough in rural Nova Scotia did not materialize.

The party will take over as Official Opposition from the Liberals. NDP Leader Claudia Chender, who was re-elected in her riding of Dartmouth South, will become the first elected woman leader of the Official Opposition in Nova Scotia.

"I'm here to tell you the Nova Scotia NDP is on the rise," Chender told a cheering crowd at the party's election celebration in Dartmouth.

The Liberals were heading to one of their worst showings in history, and even Liberal Leader Zach Churchill lost his own seat in the riding of Yarmouth, defeated by PC challenger Nick Hilton.

The party, which went into the election with 14 seats after two of its MLAs crossed the floor to the PCs, were leading or elected in just two ridings Wednesday morning as counting continued.

In a speech to supporters in Yarmouth, Churchill thanked candidates for their tenacity and care for their communities.

"I know a lot of people will have a lot of theories on why this happened, but at the end of the day, this was my responsibility and this loss belongs to me and me alone," he said.

The NDP went into the election holding six seats. Its candidates were elected in eight ridings and leading in another one Wednesday morning.

However, the party's share of the popular vote did not rise much from the 2021 election, and at 22 per cent it was still slightly lower than the Liberal vote count provincewide.

Chender spoke about the NDP campaign of "positivity and possibility for all of us," but told supporters that PC Premier Tim Houston would find the party a tougher opposition than the Liberals.

"My friends, while today marks the end of this election, it marks the beginning of the next one," she said.

"And after three years, we know what we are getting from the Conservatives: broken promises and backroom deals, and not a lot for the rest of us. And Tim Houston got away with it when the Liberals were in opposition. But that ends today."

Houston repeatedly tried to tie the provincial Liberal Party to the federal Liberals, accusing Churchill of being "beholden" to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In southwest Nova Scotia, that may have paid dividends, given anger over what many see as a lack of federal government response to illegal lobster fishing in the area.

But the party suffered even steeper drops in support in many other parts of the province, including in northern Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and the Halifax region.

David Sollows, who has been Churchill's official agent since 2013, said "there's no question" the PCs were gunning for his seat, and noted Houston visited the riding a number of times during the election.

"I think Zach has held the premier to account as rigorously as he could have, and there's no doubt in my mind the premier certainly wanted Zach out of that seat," Sollows said.

Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin made history by being re-elected in Cumberland North, marking the first time an Independent has won back-to-back elections in Nova Scotia. 

Smith-McCrossin said health care and the Chignecto Isthmus — the land connection between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — will be her focus over the next four years. 

"[It's] critical that we get that work not only started with a berm, but the real work that needs to get done there to protect all Nova Scotians," she said in an interview Tuesday night.