KENTVILLE, N.S. — As the polls opened for the 2019 federal election Oct 21, people set out to mark their ballots in the two ridings intersected by Kings County.
Kings County News spoke with several residents of Kings-Hants and West Nova to get a better idea of what motivated them to vote.
KENTVILLE VOTERS
Audrey Brewster of Kentville said she used to vote for a certain party but won’t be voting for them again.
“They all make promises, but I put my name in for somebody else. I may lose with my vote, but that’s the way I feel,” Brewster said, just after voting at the Kentville Fire Department.
Brewster said that she gets by on an old age pension and is hoping the government can do more to support people like her.
“I’m hoping to see some help for some of the seniors. A lot of people don’t have any idea what we go through, just having one cheque a month,” Brewster said. “I don’t work and have never worked before. I brought up children and grandchildren all my life, and I just would like to have a little break for the seniors.”
Tim Hughes, another Kentville resident, said his focus over the past election has been what he wants the new MP for Kings-Hants to focus on.
“I want a focus on all socioeconomic strata, and for people of all identifies across the spectrum,” Hughes said. “I’ve been thinking about inclusion in terms of Indigenous communities that are in our country and our riding, and the black communities that are in our riding. I want our government to make sure they are included the way they want to be, in any economic development and social development, essentially.”
When asked at a Kentville polling station what she wants to see from the new MP, Margo Griffin of Kentville said: “My biggest thing is that I want to see more help for the people that need it.”
“We need more medical service and doctors in Kings County, and more stuff for children,” she added.
WEST NOVA
Marilynn Allen, a Berwick resident who voted Monday at the Kings Mutual Century Centre, said she wants to see better health care.
“There needs to be more done for our health-care system,” Allen said, after voting. “It wouldn’t be so bad if people stuck to their campaign promises and followed through on anything.”
Allen, a medical professional, said she was motivated to make her decision by anecdotes from people struggling without a family doctor, and unable to go anywhere but outpatients when in need of primary care.
Dave Lahn’s motivation to vote stems from frustration regarding a lack of available housing, and lack of support for renters.
“I’m looking for honesty. Not one person banged on our door, because we live in a trailer,” Lahn said. “If we had lived in a posh home, I guaranteed we’d have every one of them there.”
Lahn said he was also motivated to vote by the plight of seniors, “who are just ignored and pushed out to the curb.”
“I’m tired of the same-old, same-old,” Lahn said. “I wasn’t going to vote, but I figured, ‘No, I have to vote.’”
Although Nick Holland of Berwick was mostly voting with federal issues in mind, he said he hopes to see West Nova’s MP respect the needs of labour unions.
“My dad is a kind of blue-collar guy, and that’s what I do,” Holland said. “That’s how my mind went.”
Holland added that he hopes to see an MP who respects and gives proper attention to social issues.
“I’m part native and I work at the reservation near Cambridge, and I’d like to see an MP visiting more native communities,” Holland said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a lot of money or anything like that; it can just be social connectedness.”
