N.S. Tories seek fresh mandate in Tuesdays election to negotiate with Ottawa – Halifax [Video]

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston says if he’s given a second mandate in Tuesday’s election, it will strengthen his position to fight Ottawa on key issues impacting the province, including carbon pricing.

But his opponents say his reasons for calling the snap election were insincere, and that the main issues in voters’ minds are housing, affordability and health care — not negotiations with Ottawa.

On Monday, during Houston’s final media conference for the election campaign, he told reporters if voters return the Tories to office with another majority, “Ottawa will have to take us seriously.”

He repeated his grievances with the federal government on such things as carbon pricing, which he says makes life less affordable, and Ottawa’s refusal to pay the entire cost of the expensive work needed to protect the Chignecto Isthmus, the land link between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that is increasingly at risk of severe …