A stalwart Tory friend who fully expected Ian McNeil to beat Allan MacMaster in the Inverness byelection voiced surprise at MacMaster's decision to go door-to-door with former Premier Rodney MacDonald, who held the seat before quitting last month: I would have expected voters in Inverness to have an earful for Rodney after he quit so soon. There was certainly some of that. MacMaster received 2,247 fewer votes than MacDonald had just four months earlier. But I suspect Rodney was still a plus for MacMaster at the doorstep—probably a crucial factor in his sliver of victory. In the eyes of most Nova Scotia voters,...

25 October, 2009

No surprise to those who know him that defeated Inverness Liberal Ian McNeil matched victorious Tory Allan MacMaster in post-election graciousness. McNeil wisely made short work of any recount speculation: I expect that everybody did their job effectively and the result will stand...

23 October, 2009

So much for Contrarian's election prognostication prowess. Tory Allan MacMaster hung on to the Inverness seat by 50 votes over Liberal Ian McNeil. N-dip Bert Lewis was 800 votes back. I guess a 3,431-vote margin four months ago counts for something after all. Full results here. [Update:]  A certain Danny Graham, a man familiar to Contrarian readers Liberal and otherwise,  writes: You should have given me a call on the byelection. I predicted the triacta of Mac Master, Mac Neil, and Lewis within a margin of very few votes....

20 October, 2009

A group calling itself Know How They Vote is asking the Nova Scotia House of Assembly to abandon its traditional practice of unrecorded votes. A news release from Michael Kennedy, the group's director, points out that, although any two MLAs can request a roll call vote, only one percent of the legislature's decisions in the last six years have been by recorded vote. Moneyquote: The democratic deficit in Nova Scotia is growing. With every unrecorded vote in the Legislature, our MLAs get farther and farther away from our scrutiny. Choosing not to record votes is choosing not to be transparent and accountable...

18 October, 2009