Some truly fantastic things happened on June 9th. For one thing, my brother graduated from his program at NSCC, and we were all there to cheer him on. And then when we returned to our hotel rooms, we turned on the TV to get the election coverage, and quickly found out that for the first time in more than two hundred years, a party other than the Liberals or the Conservatives will be in power in Nova Scotia!
The NDP - or New Democratic Party - handily won a majority government on Tuesday. This is just incredible. The NDP is a left-of-center party, and has always stood for things like social programs, support for unions, and strong health care. They have been in either second or third place for the last thirty years or so, but finally Nova Scotian voters have decided to give them a chance.
I used to be a card-carrying member of this party, but let my membership lapse at one point. However, despite not being a member anymore, my voting loyalty is always split between the NDP and the Green party, and at each election, be it federal or provincial, I end up taking other factors into consideration, like who the candidates are and what their history is, in order to decide which of those two parties to vote for. (So far neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals have offered me a choice.)
It's exciting that the NDP is in power now, and that they were supported in such great numbers across the province. Our voter turnout was the lowest ever, somewhere between 50% and 60%, so that's discouraging. But, at least there is going to be some change, even if it's just from red or blue to ORANGE.
This photo is from my time in Halifax. There are three orange things in this picture: some NDP signs, some construction sawhorses, and the poppies in the foreground.
Click here for the Chronicle-Herald coverage.
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