before the convention.
John Lohr, or Farmer John as he is known to many, is the MLA for Kings North. First elected in 2013 by a slim 21 vote margin, Lohr increased that to over 1000 in 2017. Lohr is a strong conservative who does not stray from his beliefs. He has been a successful farmer and entrepreneur for many years in the Annapolis Valley. Lohr’s policies are well defined. Of the candidates, John Lohr is the person offering the clearest view of how he would lead as Premier. Lohr picked up new support at the first debate by calling for the firing of the NS Health Authority Board and CEO. He also promotes the hiring of more doctors for a fair wage and providing them the right to abstain from medically assisted dying. Lohr opposes the carbon tax, fracking ban, and paying tax on used cars. He vows to end the Nova Scotia Liquor Com- mission monopoly, create a fulltime Agriculture Minister, fix election dates, protect the forestry industry and fight for religious freedoms. Lohr, like Smith-McCrossin, is a potential winner. He has the tools. The question, is the timing right for his policies? Lohr has been a vocal supporter of a highly debated pulp mill project in Pictou County and a proponent of fracking. He has support in the party for these positions, but it is soft. Tories know environmental issues are problematic in general elections. Lohr will need to work hard reassuring his base and the undecided PC’s he can sell these posi- tions if chosen as leader. Tim Houston is the MLA for Pictou East and first elected in 2013. In 2017 he won again. This time with 74% of the votes casted in his riding. It was the biggest PC margin of victory in the province. Houston was Finance critic and a
member of public accounts for five years until entering the leadership race. He was the first to announce his candida- cy in November 2017. Before entering politics, Houston spent 20 years in the private sector as an accountant. He has local and inter- national business experience dealing with large and small corporations. He spent 12 years in Bermuda helping troubled companies rebuild. The NS NDP attacked Houston when the now notorious “Paradise Papers” listed his name. It was later found out nothing nefarious was associated with Houston or his employer and no Canadian or personal taxes were ever involved.
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SEPTEMBER 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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