Nova Scotia Liberals will elect a new leader to replace former Premier Rankin

The Nova Scotia Liberal Party is due to elect a new leader at its convention tonight.

The candidates to replace former premier Iain Rankin are MPs Angela Simmonds from the community of Preston and Zach Churchill from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Simmonds, a lawyer and small business owner, was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the August 2021 election and serves as Vice Speaker.

Churchill first joined the legislature in a 2010 by-election and served as cabinet minister for the education and health ministries.

The party says it has more than 3,400 registered delegates who are eligible to vote, which is less than half the number of members who were able to vote in the February 2021 Liberal leadership race won by Iain Rankin .

According to Liberal Party records, there were more than 8,100 eligible voters for the election that made Rankin the 29th Premier of Nova Scotia. But the Liberals were defeated in the provincial election last August and Rankin resigned as party leader in January.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 10, 2022.