Election interest high in Nova Scotia as NDP apparent front-runner
Last Updated: Monday, June 8, 2009 | 12:10 PM ET
CBC News
A provincial election campaign that turned rancorous late last week after polls put the NDP in first place seems to have galvanized Nova Scotians to get out to the ballot box.
The number of Nova Scotians who voted in advance and special polls is up by 17 per cent over the last election three years ago, Dana Philip Doiron of Elections Nova Scotia said Monday.
That translates to an increase of about 11,000 people, or about 63,000 in total, who voted early, compared to June 2006, he said.
Regular voting takes place Tuesday from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
The three main party leaders will each visit several ridings in the final push of the campaign Monday.
Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil began campaigning Monday morning in Dartmouth by greeting drivers on the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge, and encouraging his own volunteers.
"To make sure that our base understands that they have to get out and vote. That our campaign teams understand that they need to continue to work right until the bitter end tomorrow night to pull that vote. There are so many tight races, that whoever can get their vote out will actually win these races. And, obviously, Dartmouth North is one of those, and Dartmouth South, and a number down in the Valley."
Progressive Conservative Leader Rodney MacDonald and NDP Leader Darrell Dexter each started their day in Cape Breton, and will go to Halifax later in the day.
Greeting voters
It was a busy final weekend in the campaign, with all three main party leaders knocking on doors and shaking the hands of voters on the mainland of Nova Scotia.
Dexter, who appears poised to form the next government, carried a No. 87 Pittsburgh Penguins hockey jersey, worn by Sidney Crosby, whose parents lives in Dexter’s constituency of Cole Harbour.
Campaigning in the riding of Chester-St. Margarets, Dexter said his party hopes to oust Tory cabinet minister Judy Streatch.
"We’ve always had good results down here. We’ve been very close in the past. I think the people here are very much responding to the message that we have, and we think this is going to be a competitive riding," Dexter said.
Two independent polls conducted during the campaign have put Dexter and the NDP in a comfortable first-place position.
Last week, a poll commissioned by the CBC put the NDP ahead with 44 per cent of decided voters. The Liberals were in second place with 28 per cent of decided voters, and the Tories were at 26 per cent. About two per cent of those surveyed supported the Green party.
McNeil said polls don’t tell the whole story, and he thinks there are still some wild cards.
"I don't think anyone can predict. I think there will be some upsets. There will be some seat changes and I think we're in the mix in a lot of those. There's a lot of very tight races."
MacDonald spent Sunday in his home riding of Inverness.
On Saturday, MacDonald campaigned in Truro and said, at this point in the campaign, he has just one thing to tell voters.
"I've made a promise to each person I run into [and] that is the one thing you can be assured of is that we'll do our best," he said.
Things turn nasty
The campaign took a nasty turn last Thursday night when MacDonald compared Dexter to a car thief.
During a televised debate, MacDonald attacked the NDP over a controversial campaign donation of $50,000 from 10 labour unions. The party returned $45,000 of that amount last Monday when it learned the donations may have violated the contributions law.
"What this is like is someone going out and stealing a car and two weeks later, they take the car back and say, ‘Well, nothing’s been wrong since I took the car back.’ People don’t buy it, Darrell," MacDonald said.
On Friday, the Tories began running ads on seven Nova Scotia radio stations alleging the NDP has accepted "$45,000 in illegal campaign contributions from union bosses."
The NDP responded by demanding the stations stop airing the ads, which they described as “defamatory.”
In a letter sent to the radio stations Friday by Michael Coyle, a lawyer for the NDP, said these statements are "false, scandalous and seriously defamatory."
"In truth, the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is not, and has never been accused of, or investigated for, any ‘illegal donations,'" wrote Coyle.
However, the ads continued to run during the weekend.
