Kings—Hants (Nova Scotia) 140/338

 Kings—Hants (Nova Scotia)

Today we're in Nova Scotia with Kings—Hants!

Kings—Hants has existed as a riding since 1968, formerly under the names of Annapolis Valley and Annapolis Valley—Hants. The population was 83,465 in 2016. The population centers are Kentville (6,271 in 2016), Wolfville (4,195 in 2016), and Windsor (3,648 in 2016). The riding is approximately 5.3% Indigenous, with Indian Brook Indian Reserve No. 14 being home to 1,089 Mi'kmaq residents. 

Politically, this seat has typically been a close Liberal/Conservative race, but has pulled away with the Liberals in recent years. Pat Nowlan held the seat as a Progressive Conservative from 1965-1990, when he became an independent, running in 1993, and losing the seat to Liberal John Murphy. Scott Brison won the seat as a Progressive Conservative and as a Liberal, until his resignation in 2019. The seat is currently held by Liberal MP Kody Blois.

Scott Brison was first elected in 1997 as a Progressive Conservative, but resigned in 2000 for PC leader Joe Clark to take the seat. As Joe Clark won his seat in Calgary, Brison took this seat back. Brison came out in 2002, becoming the first PC to come out while in office. In 2003, he crossed the floor to the Liberals due to his opposition to the Conservative party merger, citing his opposition to the Canadian Alliance's social conservative positions. Brison became the first openly gay cabinet minister in Canada on July 20, 2004 when he became the minister of public works. In 2019, this seat was 10/11 in Nova Scotia and 172/338 in Canada by margin.

The name is good, the riding has only half of Kings County, it originally had all of Kings County, but with population growth it was split. The shape is the same reason, I like that Shubenacadie River is a nice border. As for individuality, unfortunately, queer MP's are still few and far between, but Scott Brison helped lead the way (along with queer predecessors Svend Robinson, Réal Ménard and Libby Davies).

Tomorrow we're back in Ontario with Kingston and the Islands!