1970 Nova Scotia general election

1970 Nova Scotia general election

←  1967 October 13, 1970 1974  →
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46 seats of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly 24 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	77.32% 0.32pp
First party Second party Third party   Lib PC NDP Leader Gerald Regan George Isaac Smith Jeremy Akerman Party Liberal Progressive Conservative New Democratic Leader since July 24, 1965 November 4, 1967 November 9, 1968 Leader's seat Halifax Needham Colchester Ran in Cape Breton East (won) Last election 6 40 0 Seats won 23 21 2 Seat change 17 19 2 Popular vote 174,943 177,986 25,259 Percentage 45.63% 46.43% 6.59% Swing 4.14pp 5.96pp 1.40pp
Premier before election George Isaac Smith Progressive Conservative Premier after election Gerald Regan Liberal

The 1970 Nova Scotia general election was held on 13 October 1970 to elect members of the 50th House of Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The Liberal Party of Gerald Regan won the most seats but were one seat short of a majority. It is the only election in Nova Scotia's history in which the party who won the popular vote did not win the most seats.

Results

Results by party

↓

23	21	2
Liberal	Progressive Conservative	New Democratic

Official results ^{[1] [2]}

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats				Popular vote
				1967	Dissolution	Elected	Change	#	%	Change (pp)
	Liberal	Gerald Regan	46	6	5	23	+17	174,943	45.63%	+4.14%
	Progressive Conservative	George Isaac Smith	46	40	41	21	-19	177,986	46.43%	-5.96%
	New Democratic	Jeremy Akerman	23	0	0	2	+2	25,259	6.59%	+1.40%
	Independent		2	0	0	0	0	1,464	0.38%	+0.24%
	Vacant				0
Total valid votes								379,652	99.03%	-0.19%
Blank and invalid ballots								3,704	0.97%	+0.19%
Total			117	46	46	46	–	383,356	100.00%	–
Registered voters / turnout								453,727	77.32% [3]	+0.32%

Popular vote PC   46.43% Liberal   45.63% New Democratic   6.59% Independent   0.38%

Seats summary Liberal   50.00% PC   45.65% New Democratic   4.35%

Results by region

Party name			HRM	Cape Breton	Annapolis Valley	South Shore	Fundy-Northeast	Central Nova	Total
Parties winning seats in the legislature
	Liberal	Seats:	9	2	4	4	1	3	23
		Popular vote:	51.93%	34.59%	50.85%	50.49%	45.08%	46.16%	45.63%
	Progressive Conservative	Seats:	1	6	4	3	5	2	21
		Popular vote:	42.77%	46.14%	48.80%	48.46%	52.91%	46.50%	46.43%
	New Democratic Party	Seats:	0	2	0	0	0	0	2
		Popular vote:	5.30%	17.76%	–	1.06%	2.01%	7.34%	6.59%
Parties not winning seats in the legislature
	Independent	Popular vote:	–	1.50%	0.35%	–	–	–	0.38%
Total seats:			10	10	8	7	6	5	46

Retiring incumbents

Progressive Conservative

• Edward Haliburton, Kings South
• James McKay Harding, Shelburne
• James A. Langille, Cumberland East
• William F. MacKinnon, Antigonish
• Donald C. MacNeil, Cape Breton South
• Edward Manson, Cape Breton West
• John I. Marshall, Annapolis East
• Robert Baden Powell, Digby
• Harley J. Spence, Lunenburg West

Nominated candidates

Legend
bold denotes party leader
† denotes an incumbent who is not running for re-election or was defeated in nomination contest

Valley

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP		Independent
Annapolis East		Gerry Sheehy 2,836 54.36%		Lloyd K. Hill 2,381 45.64%						John I. Marshall†
Annapolis West		H. Robert Sanford 2,048 46.03%		Peter M. Nicholson 2,401 53.97%						Peter M. Nicholson
Clare		Paul J. Comeau 1,833 40.33%		Benoit Comeau 2,712 59.67%						Benoit Comeau
Digby		Gifford W. Lewis 2,142 42.46%		Joseph H. Casey 2,903 57.54%						Robert Baden Powell†
Hants West		Norman T. Spence 3,708 48.27%		Robert D. Lindsay 3,974 51.73%						Norman T. Spence
Kings North		Victor Thorpe 3,234 51.24%		Glenn Ells 3,077 48.76%						Victor Thorpe
Kings South		Harry How 2,722 57.55%		Ed Aston 2,008 42.45%						Edward Haliburton†
Kings West		Gordon Tidman 3,736 48.96% [4]		Frank Bezanson 3,735 48.95%				Francis Keith Boates 160 2.10%		Gordon Tidman

South Shore

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP		Independent
Lunenburg Centre		George O. Lohnes 4,040 45.43%		Walton Cook 4,852 54.57%						George O. Lohnes
Lunenburg East		Maurice L. Zinck 2,092 51.31%		Eric Hagen 1,985 48.69%						Maurice L. Zinck
Lunenburg West		Bob Levy 2,717 46.82%		Maurice DeLory 3,086 53.18%						Harley J. Spence†
Queens		W. S. Kennedy Jones 3,068 51.99%		Harley Umphrey 2,833 48.01%						W. S. Kennedy Jones
Shelburne		Bill Cox 3,321 43.74%		Harold Huskilson 3,725 49.06%		Aubrey Harding 547 7.20%				James McKay Harding†
Yarmouth		Benoit Robichaud 4,896 25.16%		Fraser Mooney 5,039 25.90%						Benoit Robichaud
		George A. Snow 4,929 25.33%		Jack Rogers 4,592 23.60%						George A. Snow

Fundy-Northeast

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP		Independent
Colchester		Gerald Ritcey 8,012 24.56%		Ross Hill 7,313 22.42%						Gerald Ritcey
		George Isaac Smith 9,398 28.81%		George Norrie 7,901 24.22%						George Isaac Smith
Cumberland Centre		Raymond M. Smith 2,220 54.87%		Bill H. Mont 1,611 39.82%		John E. Burbine 215 5.31%				Raymond M. Smith
Cumberland East		Roger Stuart Bacon 4,355 51.89%		Leonard J. Dolan 3,142 37.44%		James M. MacSwain 895 10.66%				James A. Langille†
Cumberland West		D. L. George Henley 2,458 57.35%		Thomas H. Tonner 1,828 42.65%						D. L. George Henley
Hants East		Albert J. Ettinger 2,793 47.27%		Jack Hawkins 3,115 52.73%						Albert J. Ettinger

Halifax/Dartmouth/Eastern Shore

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP		Independent
Halifax Atlantic		John Buchanan 5,284 54.66%		Bob Hayes 3,786 39.16%		Charles Grineault 597 6.18%				John Buchanan
Halifax Chebucto		James H. Vaughan 4,015 38.34%		James L. Connolly 5,276 50.39%		Burris Devanney 1,180 11.27%				James H. Vaughan
Halifax Citadel		Donald MacKeen Smith 3,833 45.60%		Ronald Wallace 4,572 54.40%						Donald MacKeen Smith
Halifax Cobequid		Gordon H. Fitzgerald 5,427 42.69%		George Riley 6,453 50.76%		Bruno Dombrowski 833 6.55%				Gordon H. Fitzgerald
Halifax Cornwallis		Richard Donahoe 3,891 39.27%		George M. Mitchell 5,323 53.72%		Barrett D. Halderman 694 7.00%				Richard Donahoe
Halifax Eastern Shore		Murray Everett Ritcey 4,029 41.91%		Alexander Garnet Brown 5,585 58.09%						Alexander Garnet Brown
Halifax Needham		David MacKeen 2,887 37.05%		Gerald Regan 4,514 57.92%		Al Sinclair 392 5.03%				Gerald Regan
Halifax-St. Margaret's		D. C. McNeil 4,729 39.74%		Leonard L. Pace 6,152 51.69%		Keith Jobson 1,020 8.57%				D. C. McNeil
Dartmouth North		Gerald G. Wambolt 4,826 39.59%		Glen M. Bagnell 6,614 54.26%		Percy William Dares 750 6.15%				Gerald G. Wambolt
Dartmouth South		Irvin William Akerley 5,213 49.57%		D. Scott MacNutt 5,304 50.43%						Irvin William Akerley

Central Nova

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP		Independent
Antigonish		Bill Shaw 3,594 45.72%		Bill Gillis 4,002 50.91%		Alex MacPherson 265 3.37%				William F. MacKinnon†
Guysborough		Angus MacIsaac 3,035 47.86%		Russell Pellerin 2,770 43.68%		Al Newell 537 8.47%				Angus MacIsaac
Pictou Centre		Donald R. MacLeod 4,922 43.75%		Ralph F. Fiske 5,356 47.61%		Derrick Peter Kearley 972 8.64%				Donald R. MacLeod
Pictou East		Thomas MacQueen 2,981 47.18%		A. Lloyd MacDonald 3,000 47.48%		Charles E. Arbuckle 338 5.35%				Thomas MacQueen
Pictou West		Harvey Veniot 2,729 51.00%		Laurence Mawhinney 2,008 37.53%		Robert Cormier 614 11.47%				Harvey Veniot

Cape Breton

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP		Independent
Cape Breton Centre		Mike Laffin 3,680 50.54%		Stewart Marsh 1,902 26.12%		Alex MacDonald 1,700 23.35%				Mike Laffin
Cape Breton East		Layton Fergusson 3,807 34.06%		Bob MacKay 2,037 18.22%		Jeremy Akerman 5,334 47.72%				Layton Fergusson
Cape Breton North		Tom MacKeough 5,755 50.04%		Sidney Oram 2,885 25.09%		Len J. Arsenault 2,860 24.87%				Tom MacKeough
Cape Breton Nova		Percy Gaum 2,866 42.45%		Ronald DiPenta 959 14.20%		Paul MacEwan 2,927 43.35%				Percy Gaum
Cape Breton South		John Francis Burke 5,234 44.36%		Vince MacLean 5,034 42.66%		Don MacPherson 1,531 12.98%				Donald C. MacNeil†
Cape Breton West		Kenneth Andrews 4,843 49.08%		Allan Sullivan 5,024 50.92%						Edward Manson†
Inverness		Norman J. MacLean 4,607 25.23%		William N. MacLean 3,939 21.57%		Jerry Yetman 556 3.05%		Al Davis 1,304 7.14%		Norman J. MacLean
		Joe Shannon 3,728 20.42%		John Archie MacKenzie 4,124 22.59%						William N. MacLean
Richmond		Gerald Doucet 3,439 55.67%		Melvin J. Burt 2,411 39.03%		Charles Joseph Gallant 327 5.29%				Gerald Doucet
Victoria		Fisher Hudson 2,075 52.53%		W. Harry F. Langley 1,700 43.04%		Jessie Stone 175 4.43%				Fisher Hudson

References

1. "Election Returns 1970" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
2. "Election Returns 1970 Recapitulation" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
3. While 383,356 votes were cast, only 350,879 electors voted as Colchester, Inverness and Yarmouth electors voted for two candidates.
4. Due to a tie, the Returning Officer cast the tie-breaking vote for Gordon Tidman

Further reading

• Saywell, John, ed. (1971). Canadian Annual Review for 1970 . Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN   978-0-8020-1818-2.