Updated 28 Nov 2024 @ 8:10am with comment from Liam MacDonald
It was never expected to be otherwise. Incumbent Cumberland South MLA Tory Rushton of Oxford is being sent back to the legislature. In his third consecutive victory over challengers from the Liberal Party and New Democratic Party, the Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables in Tim Houston’s 2021–2024 government will form a part of the supermajority that will shape the province’s future over the coming years.
Rushton, who took office in a by-election in 2018 when former PC party leader Jamie Baillie resigned his seat, won re-election in 2021 and again in this trip to the ballot box. In the 2021 election, the vote was split between the PCs, Liberals, NDP and the Green Party. There was no Green candidate in this 2024 election. With voter turnout down from 2021, Rushton saw 3,434 votes cast in his favour compared to 3900 three years ago. The Liberal candidate in 2021 — Rollie Lawless — secured 1,092 votes while newcomer Liam MacDonald garnered 529 votes for that party on Tuesday. The NDP’s Larry Duchesne —former NDP Party Leader in Prince Edward Island— saw his vote count also drop slightly from 524 to 472. In 2021, the Green Party landed 108 votes for Parrsboro’s Nicholas Hendren.
Turnout for the 2024 provincial election was only 38.07% of eligible voters, vs. 51.7% in the 2021 election.
In the broader picture, the Progressive Conservative Party swept through rural Nova Scotia, landing 43 seats compared to nine for the New Democrats (who form the official opposition, with leader Claudia Chender becoming the first woman elected in that role). The Liberal Party suffered a near-total rout, dropping to just two seats in the legislature… and party leader Zach Churchill will not occupy one of those, having lost in his home riding in Yarmouth (final seat count may change slightly as five seats are still up in the air).
In neighbouring Cumberland North, former PC MLA-turned-independent Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, the incumbent, easily defeated the PC’s Bill Dowe, with a margin of some 1,351 votes (55.2% vs. 34.1%).
Hello Oxford is awaiting comment from Progressive Conservative candidate Tory Rushton.
Liberal Candidate Liam MacDonald:
As you can see with turnout dropping 14% from the last election, in conjunction with Canada Post being on strike and Voter Information Cards not being distributed, as well with the association of the name Liberal with Justin Trudeau. All that and perhaps other factors I would associate with the underlying reasoning for the results in our riding.
I of course did not have time to prepare ahead of the election, being the only candidate running for the first time in terms of having existing signs to put put, as well as not having insider knowledge of when this snap election would be called, so those were hurdles I had to manage.
What’s next for me in the next year is finishing my BA at Mount Allison and aiming to be Commissioned as an Infantry Officer in the Army Reserve out of the Nova Scotia Highlander unit in Springhill. You will most definitely see me standing again in an election going forward.
I wish that more people had gotten out to vote, even if not voting for me, but for the ongoing strength and stability of our democratic processes. I understand alot of people were in the dark about it due to the aforementioned Canada Post strike and corresponding lack of Voter Information Cards, which is disheartening.
The NDP’s Larry Duchesne saw a silver lining the vote results, noting that “we got 10.7 per cent of the vote, this highest since I’ve been running here.” Reflecting on the campaign, Duchesne says he “had several chances to speak and write about healthy forests and my concern about the rampant use of glyphosate in our county. That alone made it worth it for me. We’re the official opposition in the province. Having candidates in all ridings was important to achieving that. And it augurs well for the future.”
