BEECHVILLE, N.S. — There is no magic to a campaign launch: make sure the candidate has a crisp, resonate message; get enough people, including those with the following that guarantees clout, out to prove to the world that the candidate has deep support.
The folks, then, who put together the event to kick off Iain Rankin’s campaign to become the next leader of the Liberal Party of Nova Scotia and, therefore, this province’s 29th premier, had to feel pretty good on Monday.
Last things first: the room inside the Prospect Community centre was crawling with the right kind of Liberals.
The event was MC-ed by Brendan Maguire, the MLA for Halifax Atlantic, and Rankin was introduced by Diana Whalen, once the MLA for Clayton Park West and a provincial finance minister, who served in the legislature with Rankin.
But Chuck Porter, the current minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing was also there, as was Keith Irving, the MLA for Kings South, Kody Blois, the MP for Kings-Hants, and Joanne Bernard, the former MLA for Dartmouth North, who, at one point, also considered taking a shot at the leadership.
Working the room, meanwhile, was Dale Palmeter, who would be running Scott Brison’s campaign if the former federal cabinet minister hadn’t opted out of the race for family reason.
On the edge of the media scrum, I spied Joanne MacRae, a key aide to Halifax Atlantic MP Andy Filmore, another Grit.
Those were only the folks I recognized. (Absent were Zach Churchill, minister of education and early childhood development, and Derek Monbouquette, the minister of energy and mines, whose endorsements appeared on Rankin’s campaign site when it went live Monday.)
In truth, there aren’t many options in the small field. Before Rankin’s announcement the only declared candidate to replace McNeil was former labour minister Labi Kousoulis, although Health and Wellness Minister Randy Delorey is expected to join the fray.
On Monday, Nova Scotia Immigration Minister Lena Diab, who was known to be mulling a candidacy, said via Facebook that “at this moment it is not the right time for me to run."
The same day, I heard for the second time that Nancy Regan — the daughter of former premier Gerald Regan, as well as sister of federal MP Geoff Regan, and sister-in-law to provincial cabinet minister Kelly Regan, herself a much-touted leadership possibility — was considering throwing her hat in the ring.
When I asked the broadcasting coach if there was any truth to the rumour, she replied by writing “Hahahaha,” over and over again, before adding “Is that enough of a comment,” followed by a smiley face emoji.
Rankin’s focused message Monday was clear: He intends to become our next premier by building a platform around mitigating the impacts of climate change, an approach that plays to his strengths as a former environment minister.
As premier he will “decarbonize” the economy, he told 100-or-so-friends, family and supporters, in the process building a “forward-thinking environmental agenda focused on infrastructure investments that provide sustainable job creation for the province.”
Rankin added, “the climate emergency is here. And the time to act is now.”
At the same time Rankin, who is 37, portrayed himself as a harbinger of generational, as well as environmental, change, a champion of social justice who has spoken up in the legislature against historical injustices like the environmental racism in Boat Harbour, as well as against other wrongs such as gender inequality.
His speech, though, was more about the future than the past. He’s a listener, he told the room - perhaps trying to undercut a view by some in government that he is a well-meaning, but timid, cabinet minister - but also someone with the courage to make the tough decisions necessary as the province rebuilds from the pandemic.
The supporters I talked to think he can do what he says. At least one, among the list of prominent Liberals in attendance, liked that he is a Rankin, with strong roots in Inverness County, which means that he will be able to connect with rural voters.
Nova Scotia, after all, is still the kind of place where family and politics remain deeply intertwined.
I was reminded of this fact on the way into the campaign event. A little girl, wearing a colourful PPE mask, asked if I was intending to vote for Iain Rankin.
When I said I didn’t know she shot me a look.
He was her uncle, she told me. What is more, she said, he was also a “real good guy.”
