As a way of making me learn more about the ridings in my home province, I am going to commit to writing a profile of each one over the course of the election campaign. I know a fair bit about the ridings here in NS, but in order to write an in depth report, I will need to dig further and pay attention to the local media. That being said, there is one riding that I can safely profile right now and that is my home riding of South Shore-St. Margaret’s, probably the most interesting riding in the province (unless you’re the media).

South Shore-St. Margaret’s spans both rural and suburbans areas of Nova Scotia. Stretching from the furthest shores of very rural Shelburne County to the edges of Halifax and indeed into the Halifax Regional Municipality. Another interesting divide in this riding is the North-South divide. With most of the more populated areas and towns being located on the coast, this riding is often said to be divided by it’s major highway, the 103. North of the 103 has traditionally been Tory, while the Liberals and NDP (and Tories as well) find much of their support South of the 103.

The last three elections have seen the vote split go three ways with the incumbent, Gerald Keddy, winning with mid-30’s. The NDP managed to swing a second place finish (barely) in 2006, on the back of a Liberal candidate that while promising, just wasn’t ready for the big time. In 2008, the Tory and NDP are back with their 2006 candidates while the Liberals have put up a very strong force in Dr. Bill Smith. A chiropractor in both Bridgewater and Shelburne, Dr. Smith has roots in the two areas that could make much of the difference for the Liberal Party in this riding. With the Atlantic Accord fiasco, Gerald Keddy might very well be in for the fight of his life. Turning his back on his riding won him much backlash and bitterness is lingering. The question is, can one of the two other parties capitalize enough to overtake him. If the vote continues to split between Liberals and NDPers, it could be enough for Keddy to slip through, even with low 30’s. However, if one of the two other parties can win over enough support, they could easily squeek out a victory and sheer off one more Tory in Atlantic Canada.