Liberals will form minority government; lose fisheries minister in NS

The Liberal Party is once again forming a minority government in Canada, but a key member of Trudeau’s cabinet won’t be returning.

Bernadette Jordan, the former Liberal Fisheries Minister, failed in her bid for reelection in the district of South Shore-St.Margarets in Nova Scotia during Monday’s Canadian Federal election.

She lost her seat to Conservative Rick Perkins who, as of early Tuesday morning, had received 41.2 per cent of the vote in the district. Jordan received 36.9 per cent of the vote, while the NDP’s Olivia Dorey had 19.2, and Green candidate Thomas Trappenberg had 2.9 per cent.

It was anticipated that Jordan may lose her seat. As Fisheries Minister, she presided over the contentious fisheries dispute in Nova Scotia, which began in the fall of 2020 and continues to this day.

Last fall, the Sipekne’katik First Nation Band issued moderate livelihood lobster licenses to fishermen. The licenses were issued outside of the DFO regulated lobster season, which caused protest and anger from commercial fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia.

Many commercial fishermen and their supporters say everyone should be governed by the same DFO regulations. They also claim fishing lobster out of season could cause the lobster stocks to decline.

But the Supreme Court’s 1999 Marshall decision allows First Nations people to fish on their own land to provide a “moderate livelihood”-the terms of which has not been agreed upon universally by First Nations and the federal government.

The fishing dispute got very heated and even violent at times towards the First Nations fishermen, including acts of vandalism and arson. Many also reported being on the receiving end of racist taunts.

Many commercial fishermen and First Nations representatives pointed their fingers at Jordan, the DFO, and the government for perceived inaction on the federal side.

In an interview on election night, Perkins pointed to the fishing dispute as a big reason for his victory and Jordan’s defeat.

“The fishing community have felt that they’ve been let down by the Trudeau government and by their member of parliament quite a bit,” he said.

Across Nova Scotia, the Liberals won eight seats, while the Conservatives finished the night with three.

Federal Leaders. (CREDIT: CPAC)

In an interview with Huddle Today on election night, Darren Fisher said his priority under a new Liberal government (minority or majority) is to keep pushing for a national pharmacare program.

“I still want to work to get national pharmacare across the finish line,” said Fisher. “We signed a deal with PEI, which I think is actually a perfect start for a national pharmacare program and I hope for success in the early days on that. And I’ll keep pushing to see if we can get other provinces to join on and maybe see some more dominoes fall.”

Fisher also acknowledged the problem Halifax is having with affordable housing. He said the federal government will be most effective by forming partnerships with provinces and municipalities.

“We won’t be able to tackle this unless we have partnerships and we have to have partnerships with, not only our provinces and territories-they have to be better, and they have to be stronger…”

Fisher made note of the governments Rapid Housing funding that was given to cities in 2020, with the goal of spending $1 billion to quickly build 3,000 affordable units across the country. Halifax received $8.7 million from that fund. Fisher says he will push to get more funding for the program.

Lena Metlege Diab says people in Halifax doesn’t care which government tries to tackle the housing crisis, as long as they see results.

“I don’t think they care what government does what, as long as all levels of government work together in order to solve this pressing issue that has become a crisis in our city, in our province, and indeed across Canada right now.”

About 6.8 million Canadians voted either through advanced polling or by mail.

The Liberals are leading or elected in 158 ridings, Conservatives 119, Bloc 34, NDP 26, Green 2.

A party needs 170 for a majority.