2021 Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership election

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February 6, 2021

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Turnout

8,132 Delegates


Candidate	Iain Rankin	Labi Kousoulis	Randy Delorey
Riding	Timberlea-Prospect	Halifax Citadel-Sable Island	Antigonish
First ballot	2,206.00 40.11%	2,023.69 36.79%	1,270.31 23.10%
Second ballot	2,882.31 52.41%	2,617.69 47.59%	Eliminated

Leader before election

Stephen McNeil

Elected Leader

Iain Rankin

2021 Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership election

Date	February 6, 2021
Convention	Virtual
Resigning leader	Stephen McNeil
Won by	Iain Rankin
Ballots	2
Candidates	3
Entrance fee	$60,000
Spending limit	$350,000^[1]
Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership elections 1930 · 1945 · 1954 · 1962 · 1965 · 1980 · 1986 · 1992 · 1997 · 2002 · 2004 · 2007 · 2021 · 2022 · 2026

The 2021 Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership election took place on February 6^[2]^[3] to elect a leader to replace Premier Stephen McNeil, who on August 6, 2020, announced his pending resignation^[4] after leading the party since 2007 and returning the party to government in 2013 after being out of power for fourteen years.

Stephen McNeil announced on August 6, 2020, pending resignation as party leader and premier, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nova Scotia. McNeil remained as Premier and leader until the new leader was chosen.^[4]

Timeline

2020

August 6 – Stephen McNeil announces his pending resignation as Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party.^[4]
August 22 – The party unveils the base set of rules for the election.^[2]^[3]
September 14 – The official rules for the leadership election will be released.^[2]^[3]
September 30 – Labi Kousoulis declares his candidacy.^[1]
October 5 – Iain Rankin declares his candidacy.^[5]^[6]
October 8 – Randy Delorey declares his candidacy.^[7]
October 9 – Last day to register as a candidate.^[2]^[3]

2021

January 7 – Last day to become an eligible party member.^[2]^[3]

Candidates

Declared

Randy Delorey

Randy Delorey was the MLA for Antigonish, having served since 2013. Prior to announcing his candidacy, Delorey had been serving as Minister of Gaelic Affairs since 2013 and the Minister of Health and Wellness since 2017. Previously, he has served as the Minister of the Environment (2013–2015; 2015–2016) and as Minister of Finance and Treasury Board (2015–2017).

Candidacy announced: October 9, 2020^[7]

Date registered with Elections Nova Scotia:

Campaign website: www.votedelorey.com

Policies

Endorsements of Randy Delorey (31)

MLAs: (7)

Bill Horne (MLA for Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank)^[7]
Suzanne Lohnes-Croft (MLA for Lunenburg)^[7]
Margaret Miller (MLA for Hants East; former Minister of Environment, 2016–2017, 2018–2019; former Minister of Natural Resources, 2017–2018)^[7]
Kelly Regan (Minister of Community Services; MLA for Bedford; wife of former Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada Geoff Regan)^[7]
Gordon Wilson (Minister of Environment; MLA for Clare-Digby)^[7]
Rafah DiCostanzo (MLA for Clayton Park West; Liberal Caucus Chair)^[8]
Keith Colwell (MLA for Preston-Dartmouth)

Federal politicians: (2)

Mike Kelloway (MP for Cape Breton—Canso)
Geoff Regan (MP for Halifax West)

Municipal politicians:
Former MLAs:
Former federal politicians: (1)

Rodger Cuzner (Former Chief Opposition Whip, 2008–2010; former MP for Cape Breton—Canso, 2004–2019; former MP for Bras d'Or—Cape Breton, 2000–2004)

Former municipal politicians: (2)

Phil Mooney (Mayor of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, 2008–2012)^[9]
Francene Cosman (Mayor of Bedford, Nova Scotia)

Riding Association Executives: (13)

Kim Robbins (Past President, Fairview-Clayton Park Liberal Association)^[10]
Claude Poirier (President, Inverness Liberal Association)^[11]
Tania Meloni (President, Clayton Park West Liberal Association)^[12]
Burnell Lyons (Past President, Kings—Hants Liberal Association)^[13]
Shawn Nicholson (President, Halifax Needham Liberal Association)^[14]
Paul d'Eon (President, Hammonds Plains-Lucasville Liberal Association)^[15]
Nicholas d'Entremont (Former Youth Chair, Argyle-Barrington Liberal Association)^[16]
Dr. Paul Doucette (President, Bedford Basin Liberal Association)^[17]
Jim McKenna (President, Pictou Centre Liberal Association)
George Mbamalu (President, Cole Harbour Liberal Association)
Andi Heffernan (President, Cape Breton Centre Liberal Association)
Kerry O'Hearn (President, Preston-Dartmouth Liberal Association)
John Robart (President, Lunenburg Liberal Association)

Other prominent individuals: (7)

Dr. John Gillis (Former President of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party)^[7]
Janet Becigneul (Secretary of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party)^[18]
Kirby McVicar (Former Chief of Staff to Premier Stephen McNeil)^[7]
Max Taylor (2020 Halifax mayoral candidate)^[19]
Barry Mellish (2013 candidate for Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River)^[9]
Marc Botte (2019 by-election candidate for Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg)^[20]
Allan Kennedy (2020 by-election candidate for Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River)^[21]

Organizations:
Media:
Total endorsements: 31

Labi Kousoulis

Labi Kousoulis was the MLA for Halifax Citadel-Sable Island, having served since 2013. Additionally, he was the Minister of Labour and Advanced Education since 2017, having resigned to run in the leadership race.^[22] He previously served as the Minister of the Public Service Commission (2013–2017) and Minister of Internal Services (2014–2017).^[23]^[24]

Candidacy announced: September 30, 2020^[1]

Date registered with Elections Nova Scotia:

Campaign website: votelabi.ca

Policies

Endorsements of Labi Kousoulis (13)

MLAs: (3)

Patricia Arab (MLA for Fairview-Clayton Park)
Lena Diab (MLA for Halifax Armdale)
Lloyd Hines (MLA for Guysborough-Eastern Shore-Tracadie)

Federal politicians:
Municipal politicians:
Former MLAs: (1)

Pam Eyking (Former MLA for Victoria-The Lakes, 2013–2017)^[25]
Joachim Stroink (Former MLA for Halifax Chebucto, 2013–2017)

Former federal politicians: (3)

Mary Clancy (Former MP for Halifax, 1988–1997)
Bill Casey (Former MP for Cumberland—Colchester, 1988–1993, 1997–2009, 2015–2019)^[26]
Mark Eyking (Former MP for Sydney—Victoria, 2000 – 2019)^[25]

Former municipal politicians:
Riding Association Executives: (1)

Dominick Desjardins (President, Halifax Citadel-Sable Island Liberal Association)

Other prominent individuals: (3)

Chief Terry Paul (Chief, Membertou First Nation)
Melinda Daye (2017 Candidate, Halifax Needham)
Michel Hindley (2017 Candidate, Sackville-Cobequid)
Dr. Rodney Wilson (2016 Candidate, Halifax Needham)

Organizations:
Media:
Total endorsements: 13

Iain Rankin

Iain Rankin was the MLA for Timberlea-Prospect, having served since 2013. Rankin served in cabinet as the Minister of Lands and Forestry since 2018, having resigned prior to announcing his candidacy. In addition, he previously served as Minister of Environment from 2017 to 2018 and was head of the Nova Scotia francophone parliamentarian association from 2014 to 2017.

Candidacy announced: October 5, 2020^[6]

Date registered with Elections Nova Scotia:

Campaign website: voterankin.ca

Policies

Endorsements of Iain Rankin (22)

MLAs: (6)

Zach Churchill (Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development; MLA for Yarmouth)^[6]
Keith Irving (MLA for Kings South)^[6]
Ben Jessome (MLA for Hammonds Plains-Lucasville)^[6]
Brendan Maguire (MLA for Halifax Atlantic)^[6]
Derek Mombourquette (Minister of Energy and Mines; MLA for Sydney-Whitney Pier)^[6]
Chuck Porter (Minister of Municipal Affairs; MLA for Hants West)^[6]

Federal politicians: (1)

Kody Blois (MP for Kings—Hants)^[6]

Municipal politicians: (2)

Alfred Poirier, (Inverness County Councillor)^[6]
Tony Mancini, Councilor, Harbourview-Burnside-Dartmouth East (Halifax Regional Council)^[6]

Former MLAs: (3)

Joanne Bernard (Former Minister of Community Services, 2013–2017; former MLA for Dartmouth North, 2013–2017)^[6]
Diana Whalen (Former Deputy Premier, 2013–2017; former Minister of Finance, 2013–2015; former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, 2015–2017; former MLA for Clayton Park West, 2003–2017)^[6]
Vince MacLean (Leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party, 1988)^[27]

Former federal politicians: (1)

Colin Fraser (Former Member of Parliament for West Nova)

Former municipal politicians:
Riding Association Executives: (7)

Sonia Dudka (President, Dartmouth North Liberal Association)^[6]
Ryan Donato (President, Sackville-Cobequid and Sackville–Uniacke Liberal Association)^[6]
Patti Simpson (President, Yarmouth Liberal Association)^[6]
Peter DeWolf (President, Sydney–Membertou Liberal Association)^[6]
Bob Prange (President, Kings South Liberal Association)^[6]
Bob Sinden (President, Shelburne Liberal Association)^[6]
Francis MacDonald (Past President, Clayton Park West Liberal Association^[6]

Other prominent individuals: (2)

Geof Turner (2017 Candidate for Kings North)^[6]
Paul Ratchford, 2019 Candidate for Northside–Westmount^[6]

Organizations:
Media:
Total endorsements: 22

Declined

Joanne Bernard, former Minister of Community Services; former MLA for Dartmouth North^[28]
Scott Brison, former MP for Kings—Hants; former federal Minister of Public Works and Government Services; former federal President of the Treasury Board^[29]
Bill Casey, former MP for Cumberland-Colchester (1988–1993, 1997–2009, 2015–2019), former Chair of the House of Commons Health Committee^[30]
Zach Churchill, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development; MLA for Yarmouth^[31]
Sean Fraser, MP for Central Nova^[32]
Andy Fillmore, MP for Halifax^[33]
Laurie Graham, chief of staff to Stephen McNeil^[34]
Bernadette Jordan, federal Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard; former federal Minister of Rural Economic Development; MP for South Shore—St. Margarets^[35]
Geoff MacLellan, Minister of Business, Trade, and Service; MLA for Glace Bay^[36]
Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration; MLA for Halifax Armdale^[35]^[37]
Kelly Regan, Minister of Community Services; MLA for Bedford; wife of former Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada Geoff Regan^[38]
Darrell Samson, federal Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs; MP for Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook^[39]
Mike Savage, Mayor of Halifax; former MP for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour^[33]

Debates

Debates among candidates for the 2021 Liberal Party of Nova Scotia leadership election
No.	Date	Time	Place	Participants
P Participant N Non-invitee A Absent invitee O Out of race (exploring or withdrawn)	Iain Rankin	Labi Kousoulis	Randy Delorey
Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership election debates
1	December 7, 2020	7 p.m. AST	Virtual	P	P	P
2	December 17, 2020	7 p.m. AST	Virtual	P	P	P
3	January 6, 2021	7 p.m. AST	Virtual	P	P	P

Results

= Eliminated from next round

= Winner

Candidate	Ballot 1		Ballot 2
Name	Votes	Points	Votes	Points
Iain Rankin	3,075 39.02%	2,206.00 40.11%	3,988 52.31%	2,882.31 52.41%
Labi Kousoulis	2,904 35.71%	2,023.69 36.79%	3,636 47.69%	2,617.69 47.59%
Randy Delorey	1,895 24.05%	1,270.31 23.10%	Eliminated
TOTAL	7,881	5,500	7,624	5,500

	Ballot 1							Ballot 2
Riding	Iain Rankin		Labi Kousoulis		Randy Delorey		Total	Iain Rankin		Labi Kousoulis		Total
Riding	Votes	Points	Votes	Points	Votes	Points	Votes	Votes	Points	Votes	Points	Votes
Annapolis	52	44.44	34	29.06	31	26.50	117	63	54.31	53	45.69	116
Antigonish	121	36.45	35	10.54	176	53.01	332	214	70.86	88	29.14	302
Argyle	29	32.22	24	26.67	37	41.11	90	40	47.06	45	52.94	85
Bedford Basin	73	27.55	100	37.74	92	34.72	265	129	50.99	124	49.01	253
Bedford South	69	23.55	108	36.86	116	39.59	293	115	44.92	141	55.08	256
Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier	48	53.93	30	33.71	11	12.36	89	55	62.50	33	37.50	88
Cape Breton East	59	52.21	32	28.32	22	19.47	113	74	66.07	38	33.93	112
Chester-St. Margaret's	77	45.56	54	31.95	38	22.49	169	97	57.40	72	42.60	169
Clare	29	45.31	26	40.63	9	14.06	64	34	54.84	28	45.16	62
Clayton Park West	97	24.74	157	40.05	138	35.20	392	166	43.68	214	56.32	380
Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley	33	39.29	39	46.43	12	14.29	84	35	42.17	48	57.83	83
Colchester North	40	40.82	30	30.61	28	28.57	98	54	56.84	41	43.16	95
Cole Harbour	16	27.59	25	43.10	17	29.31	58	23	41.82	32	58.18	55
Cole Harbour-Dartmouth	42	23.33	85	47.22	53	29.44	180	73	41.95	101	58.05	174
Cumberland North	36	51.43	22	31.43	12	17.14	70	43	61.43	27	38.57	70
Cumberland South	20	30.77	40	61.54	5	7.69	65	24	36.92	41	63.08	65
Dartmouth East	44	27.16	67	41.36	51	31.48	162	70	44.59	87	55.41	157
Dartmouth North	34	29.31	61	52.59	21	18.10	116	43	38.05	70	61.95	113
Dartmouth South	74	47.74	55	35.48	26	16.77	155	86	55.84	68	44.16	154
Digby-Annapolis	13	18.31	31	43.66	27	38.03	71	34	51.52	32	48.48	66
Eastern Passage	16	16.49	27	27.84	54	55.67	97	32	34.04	62	65.96	94
Eastern Shore	53	55.21	28	29.17	15	15.63	96	58	61.05	37	38.95	95
Fairview-Clayton Park	47	18.50	158	62.20	49	19.29	254	70	28.23	178	71.77	248
Glace Bay-Dominion	27	27.27	31	31.31	41	41.41	99	42	47.73	46	52.27	88
Guysborough-Tracadie	24	38.10	26	41.27	13	20.63	63	29	47.54	32	52.46	61
Halifax Armdale	74	27.92	136	51.32	55	20.75	265	93	36.47	162	63.53	255
Halifax Atlantic	74	48.05	55	35.71	25	16.23	154	86	56.95	65	43.05	151
Halifax Chebucto	75	30.12	134	53.82	40	16.06	249	96	39.51	147	60.49	243
Halifax Citadel-Sable Island	102	27.57	193	52.16	75	20.27	370	137	38.27	221	61.73	358
Halifax Needham	101	41.22	112	45.71	32	13.06	245	119	48.97	124	51.03	243
Hammonds Plains-Lucasville	77	48.73	34	21.52	47	29.75	158	106	68.83	48	31.17	154
Hants East	102	56.35	24	13.26	55	30.39	181	125	71.43	50	28.57	175
Hants West	59	58.42	23	22.77	19	18.81	101	68	68.69	31	31.31	99
Inverness	95	62.50	19	12.50	38	25.00	152	121	81.21	28	18.79	149
Kings North	72	61.02	35	29.66	11	9.32	118	80	68.38	37	31.62	117
Kings South	104	76.47	19	13.97	13	9.56	136	110	82.71	23	17.29	133
Kings West	39	42.86	28	30.77	24	26.37	91	48	55.17	39	44.83	87
Lunenburg	31	29.81	24	23.08	49	47.12	104	51	52.58	46	47.42	97
Lunenburg West	44	51.16	29	33.72	13	15.12	86	47	54.65	39	43.35	86
Northside-Westmount	45	49.45	38	41.76	8	8.79	91	49	54.44	41	45.56	90
Pictou Centre	28	20.44	83	60.58	26	18.98	137	45	33.58	89	66.42	134
Pictou East	28	31.11	48	53.33	14	15.56	90	34	38.64	54	61.36	88
Pictou West	38	43.18	31	35.23	19	21.59	88	46	53.49	40	46.51	86
Preston	25	31.25	43	53.75	12	15.00	80	28	36.36	49	63.64	77
Queens	22	45.83	17	35.42	9	18.75	48	26	54.17	22	45.83	48
Richmond	35	30.70	47	41.23	32	28.07	114	49	43.36	64	56.64	113
Sackville-Cobequid	30	31.58	47	49.47	18	18.95	95	40	43.01	53	56.99	93
Sackville-Uniacke	15	20.55	43	58.90	15	20.55	73	21	30.88	47	69.12	68
Shelburne	28	58.33	9	18.75	11	22.92	48	32	66.67	16	33.33	48
Sydney-Membertou	91	41.94	112	51.61	14	6.45	217	97	45.33	117	54.67	214
Timberlea-Prospect	239	76.60	50	16.03	23	7.37	312	249	81.11	58	18.89	307
Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River	46	34.07	62	45.93	27	20.00	135	57	43.51	74	56.49	131
Victoria-The Lakes	39	47.56	27	32.93	16	19.5	82	49	61.25	31	38.75	80
Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank	38	35.51	39	36.45	30	28.04	107	53	50.48	52	49.52	105
Yarmouth	106	68.39	18	11.61	31	20.00	155	123	79.87	31	20.13	154

2021 Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership election

Timeline

2020

2021

Candidates

Declared

Randy Delorey

Labi Kousoulis

Iain Rankin

Declined

Debates

Results

References

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