Voter turn-out for provincial elections in Nova Scotia has been on a steady decline over the past two decades, especially among younger generations. Elections Nova Scotia data shows a drop in voter turnout from 68% in 1999, 57% in 2006, and 53% in 2017.
Opposition parties are calling for electoral reform hoping that it will counter this trend. The governing Progressive Conservative party, however — according to one local candidate — does not think such reforms would solve the problem.

The Lunenburg Barnacle reached out to local candidates of all political parties running in the provincial election to comment on this issue. All four major political parties responded. The Nova Scotians United party, however, did not respond by the time of publication.
All three major opposition parties agreed that it is time to get rid of the first-past-the-post electoral system, where candidates compete in a winner-takes-all competition to represent a riding. Votes for other candidates under this system are effectively “wasted”, according to proponents of electoral reform.
When asked for their preferred alternative system of elections, the Liberals and the NDP both expressed a general desire for proportional representation, which would see the House of Assembly selected based on the popular vote across the province.
The Green Party expressed that they want to see a mixed member proportional or single transferable vote, which are specific electoral systems that are ultimately based on principles of proportional representation.
But there are other elements to voting in Nova Scotia that require consideration beyond ditching the first-past-the-post system of voting.
The three major opposition parties agree on the need for online voting to accommodate the busy lives of Nova Scotians, especially youth who have come to expect public participation online.
They also agree on strengthening the fixed election date laws brought in by the Houston’s PC party and keeping in place existing laws implemented during the Dexter NDP government that ban campaign contributions from organizations and capping individual donations to $5,000.
There are aspects of electoral reform, however, where the opposition parties differ. The Greens and NDP would like to see longer election periods and have the voting age dropped to sixteen. The Liberals disagreed with these reforms.
Objecting to the proposal for electoral reform, Minister of Economic Development and Lunenburg PC candidate Susan Corkum-Greek told the Barnacle,
“I honestly don’t know if these changes would increase participation/voter turnout. I’m admittedly always a little sad to meet someone who tells me they do not vote. I don’t judge them; however, I usually do ask them why. The most common answer, by far, is that they don’t believe it makes a difference; that no matter the party in power, they are not seen or heard.”
In response to declining voter turnout she offered, “I spend a ton of time out in our communities at events and celebrations so that people can see I am approachable. My hope is that they’ll reach out when they have a problem and by helping them, that may be the bridge back to casting a ballot.”
Statistics Canada studied reasons for low voter turnout and found that the top two most significant reasons why people did not vote is that they were too busy working or caring for a family, and that they did not like the choice of candidates or political parties that were running.
Green Party of Nova Scotia – Emily Fearon (Campaign Communications Officer) | Nova Scotia Liberal Party – Jonathan Crouse (Lunenburg West) | Nova Scotia New Democratic Party – Brendan Moser (Chester-St. Margarets) | Nova Scotians United | Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia – Susan Corkum Greek (Lunenburg) | |
Online Voting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Did not respond | Does not know if this will improve voter turnout |
Longer Election Periods | Yes | No | Yes | Did not respond | Does not know if this will improve voter turnout |
Lowering Voter Age to 16 | Yes | No | Yes | Did not respond | Does not know if this will improve voter turnout |
Ending First-Past-the-Post Voting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Did not respond | Does not know if this will improve voter turnout |
Electoral Reform Preference | Mixed Member Proportional Representation or Single Transferable Vote | Proportional Representation | Proportional Representation | Did not respond | No response |
Existing laws banning organization donations, capping individual donations at $5,000 | Yes, and restricting candidates that violate lobbying rules. | Yes | Yes | Did not respond | No response |
Strengthen fixed election date laws | Yes, and make election day a statutory holiday | Yes | Yes | Did not respond | No |
The Conference Board of Canada has made a series of recommendations that governments can implement to address the problem of low voter turnout, including: making voting easier, making politics more relevant to young people, connecting policy issues to peoples’ everyday lives, and more direct political engagement with the public.
These recommendations suggest that reforms are necessary to the way we vote in Canada and the provinces, and there has accordingly been some movement on the topic. The promise of electoral reform was a key feature in the 2015 Federal Election. The early Trudeau Government even convened a special committee on electoral reform, which recommended putting a referendum on electoral reform before Canadians. This initiative failed, however, when the alternative vote option—favoured strongly among the Trudeau Liberals—scored low on the committee’s criteria for an alternative to the current system. Trudeau shelved the committee claiming that the topic was too divisive for Canadians.
There have been referendums and other initiatives exploring electoral reform on the provincial-level in Ontario, New Brunswick, PEI, Québec, and British Columbia, all of which did not deliver any reforms due to the heavy status quo bias and lack of public awareness that generally tend to trouble referendum campaigns.
Nova Scotia, to limit the ability of governments to call snap elections for partisan gain, has also implemented fixed election laws. The Houston Government amended elections laws asserting how provincial elections must take place on the third Tuesday in July, four years following the previous election, or the closest day to it in case it conflicts with a culturally-important holiday or celebration.
The strength of this reform, however, was ultimately undermined by its first clause that states the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia–who conventionally governs at the will of the Premier–can dissolve Parliament whenever they like, triggering an election.
Premier Houston was ultimately able to call an early election.
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Nova Scotians go to the polls on Nov 26 to choose their local representatives, who will then make up the next provincial government. Voters, however, will not be receiving voter cards this provincial election due to a potential postal strike, according to Elections Nova Scotia. This unfortunate choice risks pitting frustrated voters against postal workers struggling to practice their constitutionally-protected right to strike for better working conditions. It is a decision that has been criticized by opposition parties as a factor that could further reduce the voter turnout this election.
Christy Kelly-Bisson, PhD, is a social scientist and garlic farmer living in rural Lunenburg County
The discussion around electoral reform is fascinating to me – I personally would love to see the move towards proportional representation. Recently I learned this is the system they use in Ireland, but with an extra twist. It’s called Proportional Representation – Single Transferable Vote (PR-STV). Just wanted to share that thought as it’s an interesting system to read about if you are interested in electoral systems!