N.S. election: Results could be delayed after voting station opens ...

It’s election day in Nova Scotia, as Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives seek a second mandate.

However, the election results will now be coming later after a polling station in the community of Mushaboom in Halifax’s eastern shore was delayed opening by one hour. The polling station opened at 9 a.m., not 8 a.m., meaning it will now close at 9 p.m., not 8 p.m.

Elections Nova Scotia told Global News in an email on Tuesday morning that, by law, they cannot report election results while active voting is happening, and that no results will be posted until that one polling station closes.

Naomi Shelton, an Elections Nova Scotia spokesperson, said counting in the rest of the province will begin at 8 p.m., so when results are posted by 9 p.m., they will likely flow rapidly and be “robust.”

For live results and analysis when polls do close and results are released, visit globalnews.ca/halifax for up-to-date numbers.

As well, Global News has profiled all 55 ridings in the province with a list of candidates and how the ridings have voted in past elections.

You can check out Global News’ coverage of the parties’ platforms and the leaders’ promises made.

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Houston opted to call a snap election on Oct. 27 — ignoring his government’s election law, which for the first time in Nova Scotia set a fixed election date: July 15, 2025.

It was a move that was criticized by Liberal Leader Zach Churchill and NDP Leader Claudia Chender.

In a little over four weeks of campaigning, topics such as housing, affordability and health care have dominated discussions.

In 2021, Houston’s campaign zeroed in on the ailing health-care system, and his vow to fix it. During this 2024 campaign, the other two major party leaders have called Houston out on the slow pace of improving the crisis.

During a televised debate, Houston argued that the system had crumbled under 12 years of NDP and Liberal governments.

“We were taking over from parties that were inactive in health care,” he said Nov. 14.

Houston also placed blame during the campaign on previous governments for the housing crisis, and said his government’s plan to support the creation of 41,200 new housing units by 2028 is already more than halfway there.

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Meanwhile, the Liberals have set a goal of building 80,000 new homes by 2032, but that plan does not include the construction of more public housing.

“We have to empower the private sector to develop market housing and we have to lean on the models that are working the best in our province, and that is the not-for-profit model and co-op options,” Churchill said.

In terms of housing affordability, the NDP has pledged to cap rent increases at 2.5 per cent and give households that earn less than $70,000 a rebate averaging $900.

“We hear everywhere we go that people cannot afford to live, and that is absolutely our focus,” Chender said.

At the dissolution of the legislature, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats, the Liberals had 14 seats, the NDP held six and there was one independent member.

— with files from The Canadian Press & Global News’ Phillip Croucher