HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s Liberals have chosen former provincial forestry minister Iain Rankin as their next leader and the future premier of the province.
Rankin garnered just over 52 per cent of the vote after the three-person race went to a second ballot.
Rankin defeated former labour minister Labi Kousoulis and Randy Delorey, who held the province’s health, finance and environment portfolios under outgoing Premier Stephen McNeil.
The leadership contest was triggered last summer when McNeil announced his retirement after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
About 8,100 party delegates cast virtual votes over the past week in support of the three candidates, all of whom held cabinet roles in McNeil’s government.
Delorey was dropped from the race after the first-ballot results of the ranked vote.