Nova Scotia election coming up...

Unfortunately this article has no recent poll results so it is hard to know who has the advantage but given the state of the economy the Conservatives may be unpopular and so the NDP could get in. It is a bit ironic that the NDP should vote against a budget because it would produce a deficit when obviously during a depression this is probably necessary and even desirable! Maybe another Tory minority will fall soon and Harper will have to face the electorate but don't bet on the NDP winning that one!


Nova Scotia election set for June 9
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 5, 2009 11:15 AM AT
CBC News
Nova Scotians are heading to the polls on June 9, the province's fifth election in 11 years.
Lt.-Gov. Mayann Francis dissolved the legislature on Tuesday, a day after Premier Rodney MacDonald's minority Progressive Conservative government was defeated on a finance bill.
MacDonald said he's looking forward to the 35-day election campaign.
"The central focus on this election will be about the economy and the plan that we put forward in comparison to what the Opposition is saying, the NDP, which really gets to the issue of raising taxes or cutting programs," MacDonald told reporters.
The MacDonald government collapsed over its plan to spend $260 million instead of putting it toward the province's $12-billion debt, as is required by law.
The outcome of Monday's vote was no surprise. Both opposition parties had been refusing to go along with the Tories' plan to make it legal to spend what's known as the offshore offset, arguing this was an attempt to hide a deficit.
While MacDonald blamed the NDP and Liberals for pre-empting a budget filled with capital spending promises, the opposition said it was the Tories who precipitated the election by bringing forward a bill that had no support.
Nova Scotia has had a minority Tory government since August 2003, first under John Hamm. In June 2006, with MacDonald at the helm, the party failed to regain its majority and even lost two seats.
This is Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil's first time leading his party through an election. Party members named him leader at a convention two years ago.
Darrell Dexter led the NDP through the last two provincial elections, each time increasing his party's presence in the 52-seat legislature. In 2006, the NDP ended up with 20 seats — its best result ever.
The Tories are kicking off their campaign with a noon hour rally at the Prince George Hotel in downtown Halifax.
Dexter is launching his party's campaign in Hammonds Plains-Upper Sackville, a district currently held by the Tories. The Liberals will be in the Halifax Citadel district, where they hope to unseat the NDP.
At dissolution, the Tories had 21 seats, the NDP had 20 and the Liberals had nine. There was one Independent and one seat vacant.