Nova Scotia will soon have a new Premier.
Six months after Stephen McNeil announced he was stepping down, the Nova Scotia Liberals voted in Iain Rankin as their new leader, who will also become the province’s 29th Premier.
“Although I was chosen by Liberals, I will be a Premier for every Nova Scotian,” Rankin said during his acceptance speech on Saturday night.
“Every Nova Scotian has a role in building our future.”
READ MORE: Liberals choose Iain Rankin as new leader, 29th premier of Nova Scotia
Among those who were watching the leadership race, were the leaders of the opposition parties.
“Iain Rankin’s a good person, I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” PC leader Tim Houston said on Sunday.
“While he’s premier I hope he does a good job, of course I hope he’s not there for that long.”
The sentiments were echoed by NDP Leader Gary Burrill.
“I called Premier-Designate Rankin shortly after the result was announced to wish him all the best,” Burrill said.
“And to tell him I’m looking forward to meeting him in the legislature and pretty soon on the campaign trail.”
Rankin was chosen by about 8,100 Liberal delegates, but soon Nova Scotians will get a say on who they want to lead the province.
This May will mark four years of the Liberal government in power, and while there is no fixed election date in Nova Scotia the next election must be called by spring 2022.
“Nova Scotians like to have a say who governs them and they like to have a say every four years,” Houston said.
“Whenever the Premier’s ready, we’ll be ready and Nova Scotians will get a real say on who they want to govern this province.”
With an election looming, Political Scientist Lori Turnbull says it doesn’t give Rankin much time to make his mark and prove himself as Premier.
“I think he’s going to take some time, and try to get his points across in terms of his priorities around green growth and renewable energy,” said Turnbull.
“He said some important things around being a candidate and leader for generational change.”
As for when the election will be called, that’s still up in the air.
“I can’t see him wanting to go before the fall, and even that doesn’t give him a heck of a lot of time,” said Turnbull.
“On the other hand if he waits too long after that he’s up against the wall.”
When asked on Saturday, Rankin said his focus has been on the leadership campaign, and he’s now turning his focus to working with the opposition parties on common ground and pushing forward an ambitious agenda during the next legislative sitting, as well as passing a budget.
“Then we’ll start to look at what’s next for our government,” said Rankin.
In the meantime, opposition parties are also looking towards the next sitting at the legislature. Depending on when the sitting is called, it could be nearly a year since they sat, not having had the chance at all through the pandemic.
“We’ve had a government of one for a long time.”
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