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Vishal Bhardwaj finishes third in Nova Scotia assembly election
Bhardwaj polled 1891 votes against the ultimate winner Brad McCowan of Progressive Conservatives who secured 4231 votes.
Vishal Bhardwaj / Nova Scotia Liberal Party
Members of the Indian Diaspora may have extended pockets of their political influence in the city, provincial, and federal electoral contests in the rest of Canada, but Nova Scotia continues to elude them.
In the just-concluded elections to the Nova Scotia provincial assembly, Vishal Bhardwaj, the lone candidate of Indian descent, finished a poor third.
He represented the Liberals, a party that lost its status as an official Opposition party to the New Democrats.
At present, politicians of South Asian descent sit in the provincial assemblies of British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Alberta.
Looking at the results, Nova Scotians overwhelmingly voted for the Progressive Conservatives for a back-to-back government as Premier Tim Houston’s decision to advance the assembly elections saw his party heading for another majority government.
Until late at night as the results were pouring in the ruling Progressive Conservatives were leading in more than 40 ridings against 34 seats it held in the outgoing Assembly. Nova Scotia Assembly has 55 seats and for a majority, a party needs only 28 seats. Liberals, who were the main Opposition party with 14 seats, suffered a major reverse as its candidates were leading only in two ridings now.
NDP which had only six seats in the outgoing assembly, looks set to take its tally to double figures(10) as the counting progresses.
Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin has been the only Independent to get re-elected in the riding of Cumberland North, becoming the first Independent politician to win back-to-back elections.
For a substantial population of South Asians in Nova Scotia, the community had pinned its hopes on Vishal Bhardwaj from Cole Harbour-Dartmouth riding. Vishal Bhardwaj polled 1891 votes against the ultimate winner Brad McCowan of Progressive Conservatives who polled 4231 votes. The second place in the riding went to Keyley Dixon of NDP with 2073 votes.
Analysts held that the gamble of the Progressive Conservatives for an early election call was to capitalize on the unpopularity of the Trudeau government.
Federally debated three topics — affordability, housing and health care — were indeed pushed by all three main political parties as their top priorities, with some even making similar campaign promises.
In Halifax, celebrations started as NDP Leader Claudia Chender was re-elected in her riding of Dartmouth South. Incidentally, the NDP has remained a third-place party since falling from power in the 2013 provincial election. This time it made notable gains to become the Official Opposition pushing the Liberals to inconsequential third place.
Claudia Chender is now slated to become the first elected female leader of the Opposition.
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