What you need to know about the candidates vying for provincial NDP leadership

For the first time in 15 years Nova Scotia’s New Democrats will elect a new party leader on Saturday.

MLAs Lenore Zann and Dave Wilson are vying for the top spot along with former MLA Gary Burrill.

READ MORE: Interim leader’s letter suggests N.S. NDP staffer should have faced more sanctions: Zann

More than 3,000 members will be eligible to vote in the leadership convention at the Dartmouth Holiday Inn, according to the party’s provincial secretary and CAO Mike Poworoznyk. Nine hundred of those members were signed up during the leadership race.

As of Friday afternoon 63 per cent of the members had already voted for a leader, leaving less than 40 per cent who could still be swayed by Saturday morning’s speeches from the leadership hopefuls. Two hundred members of the party are attending the convention.

Dave Wilson’s Pitch

• Wilson’s platform includes calls for “wealth equality for all,” in part by introducing a $15 minimum wage. He also pledges to “continue expanding the Small Business Loan Guarantee Program.”
• He says the focus of his leadership is on the health care system, calling for better support for people with mental health challenges. One of his recommendations is to establish mental health emergency rooms.
• Wilson was in the inner circle of the former NDP government under Premier Darrell Dexter, serving as Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage and Minister of Health.
• He was first elected as the MLA for Sackville-Cobequid in 2003. Before turning to politics, Wilson was a paramedic and volunteer firefighter.

Gary Burrill’s Pitch

• His platform focuses on social justice, economic justice and environmental justice. As leader, he says he would call for an environmental bill of rights and end poverty in Nova Scotia.
• He says he would attract more people to the province by investing more in health care, education, and the environment. And would focus economic development spending on community economic development initiatives, co-ops, credit unions, and public ownership.
• Burrill doesn’t have a seat in the legsilature. He was the first NDP MLA to be elected in Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley in 2009, but was swept out by the Liberal wave in 2013. Since then he has been the minister at the new United Heritage Church in Sydney.

Lenore Zann’s Pitch

• Zann calls herself an “unabashed social democrat.” Her platform calls for a publicly funded breakfast and lunch program for public school students, rolling back tuition fees to 2011 levels, more rigorous limits on greenhouse gas emissions, and reinstating the film tax credit.
• Zann is her second term as NDP MLA for Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River, the riding is a traditional Tory stronghold.
• She is the national spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Mental Illness and Mental Health. Before serving as an MLA, Zann was an actor and performer in film, TV, radio, animation, and theatre.

As of February 8, Burrill had raised the most money and also spent the most – raising $26,115.16 and spending $21,039.59. Zann came in second in fundraising, but spent the least – raising $16,846.63 and spending $12,192.06. Finally, Wilson raised the least but spent more than Zann – raising $15,517.08 and spending $19,358.72.

However, Wilson tweeted saying since February 8, he held two more fundraisers and received “quite a few donations.” His campaign says he’s now raised $17,542.08 and spent $19,358.72.