And they’re off to the races.
Premier Iain Rankin visited the Lieutenant Governor to dissolve the legislature at 9:45 a.m. Saturday.
We’re going to the polls, after a brief 30 day campaign, on August 17.
Rankin is looking to earn his first mandate, he became Premier after the Liberal Party leadership in February.
Recent polls show the Rankin’s Liberals in position to win a majority. It’d be the first time the Liberals have formed government back-to-back-to-back since 1953.
The announcement comes after a weeks-long pre-election spending spree by the Liberals, and plenty of platform promises by the Progressive Conservatives and New Democratic Party.
Parties have been not so quietly filling their slates in every riding. There’s only a handful left without a candidate named by each of the major parties. No other party has put forward a candidate to run against Rankin in his riding, Timberlea-Prospect.
The Liberals hold 24 seats, they lost their narrow majority after former Premier Stephen McNeil and longtime Liberal MLA Margaret Miller resigned, in May and June respectively.
The PCs have 17 seats. The NDP has five. Two are vacant. There are three independents.
Former Liberal Hugh MacKay resigned from the party in the wake of a drunk driving charge.
Alana Paon and Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin were expelled from the PC caucus by leader Tim Houston. Paon after a fight about the accessibility of her constituency office and Smith-McCrossin for her involvement in a protest that closed the border for almost a full day.
The province is adding four new protected electoral districts for the 2021 contest, Preston, Richmond, Argyle, and Clare, which brings the total seats up for grabs to 55.
The winning party needs to take 28 of them for a majority.
