Affordability or bust: Nova Scotia election campaign all about cost of living

Nova Scotia's election campaign is all about cost of living as a housing crisis, homelessness and rent prices continue to increase.

A lot has changed in Nova Scotia since the Progressive Conservatives won a dominant electoral majority in the 2021 election with a targeted focus on health care.

And while the health system is still struggling — more than 145,114 people are waiting for a family doctor — the affordability crisis has moved up the list of priorities for voters to compete with health care for the top issue ahead of the Nov. 26 election.

“People’s ability to afford groceries and a place to live — that supersedes just about anything,” Jeffrey MacLeod, a Mount Saint Vincent University political science professor, said in a recent interview.

Robert Huish, a political scientist at Dalhousie University, agrees. “Nova Scotia has traditionally been a place where cost of living was below that of other parts of the country. Now we have rents that rival Toronto and exceed Montreal,” he said.

Tim Houston and the Progressive Conservatives remain atop the polls at the midway point in the provincial election — a recent survey by Abacus Data put the Tories at 45 per cent support, with the NDP and Liberals fighting for second spot at 26 per cent and 25 per cent support respectively.

But if the Liberals and NDP want to catch up, and if the Tories want to maintain their majority or expand it, then they all must reckon with the affordability crisis, MacLeod and Huish say.

“If the opposition parties can effectively make the case that this government, the Houston government, has created many of the problems that exist within income inequality and the housing crisis because of its lack of foresight, then that will be bad news” for the Tories, MacLeod said.

“That could really change the result on election day, and it could cost them their government if they’re not careful.”