Premier says he'll call byelections as soon as MLAs with federal nominations resign

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said he would call a byelection "immediately" if Progressive Conservative MLAs Chris d'Entremont or Alfie MacLeod resign.

"I will call a byelection so [constituencies] will have representation in the House this fall sitting," he said in a brief interview Wednesday. "I will call it immediately."

MacLeod and d'Entremont have each recently secured Conservative nominations to run in October's federal election in Cape Breton-Canso and West Nova, respectively, but are holding off on giving up their seats in the legislature.

Federal law says someone holding office at the provincial level cannot run federally, but they have until 21 days before the election to submit paperwork with Elections Canada, which would then trigger their resignation.

'They're applying for another job'

Despite the lack of a provincial law, McNeil has argued it's against the spirit of the legislature for anyone to keep collecting a paycheque while campaigning for another job.

"They're applying for another job — they don't want that job anymore. They're out campaigning in federal ridings. How much representation are they going to be able to give these [provincial] constituents?

"But in the meantime, they're collecting thousands of dollars in income in a job they said they no longer want."

Northside-Westmount MLA Eddie Orrell is seeking the Conservative nomination for Sydney-Victoria and Independent MLA Lenore Zann is chasing the Liberal nomination for Cumberland-Colchester. The premier has said they, too, should resign from Province House immediately if they secure nominations.

Premier being political

MacLeod has said he plans to resign sometime in September, while d'Entremont said he would also wait so people in his constituency don't have to wait as long to get representation. Both have pointed to how long the premier has taken to call recent byelections.

On Wednesday, d'Entremont said the only reason McNeil is being so emphatic is because the Liberals already have a candidate lined up for his district, Argyle-Barrington.

He accused the premier of being political about the situation and said he would wait to resign until the Tories have a candidate in place for a byelection.

"Once that happens, I'm sure the premier will be happy with my decision at that point."

The party has set July 3 as the deadline for candidates to submit nomination packages.

Neither the Liberals or Progressive Conservatives have candidates lined up for when a byelection is called to replace MacLeod in Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg, and neither party has set a nomination date.

Timing of previous byelections

McNeil has had to call six byelections during his time as premier. The most recent, in Sackville-Cobequid, was the longest stretch between an MLA leaving office and the district getting a new representative.

Dave Wilson retired last November and Steve Craig was elected this month. The premier attributed the delay to waiting for the winter season to pass.

"All parties didn't want to campaign through the winter."

Jamie Baille resigned as Cumberland South MLA in January 2018 and was replaced by Tory Rushton in June of that year. Maureen MacDonald retired as MLA of Halifax-Needham in April 2016, replaced by Lisa Roberts the following August.

Marian Mancini won the Dartmouth South byelection in July 2015 following the sudden death of Allan Rowe that March. David Wilton and Derek Mombourquette each won byelections the same night as Mancini. Theirs followed the resignations of Gordie Gosse and Frank Corbett in April 2015.  

McNeil has said that when the House of Assembly Act is reopened to consider the recommendations of the boundary review commission, he'd also make changes to make it clear an MLA must resign upon earning the nomination to run at the federal level.