Ready to vote? Nova Scotia's minority Tory government falls

Nova Scotia's opposition MLAs voted down a finance bill Monday, prompting the fall of the minority Progressive Conservative government and setting the stage for an election.

Premier Rodney MacDonald said he plans to meet with Lt.-Gov. Mayann Francis on Tuesday to ask her to dissolve the legislature. Tradition dictates she will grant his request to head to the polls on June 9.

The last provincial election was in June 2006.

The MacDonald government collapsed over its plan to spend $260 million instead of putting it toward the province's $12-billion debt, as is required by law.

The outcome of the vote was no surprise since both opposition parties refused to go along with the government's plan to make it legal to spend what's known as the offshore offset.

MacDonald blames the NDP and Liberals for pre-empting a budget that promises hundreds of millions of dollars for new schools, roads and other infrastructure projects.

He said a big part of that budget is tied to available infrastructure funding from the federal government.

"They're more interested in an election than they are in doing what's right for the people of Nova Scotia," MacDonald said of the opposition.

During debate on the amendment to the Provincial Finance Act, NDP Leader Darrell Dexter said the government precipitated the election by bringing forward a bill both opposition parties said they wouldn't support.

"Does the MacDonald government deserve to be elected? That will be the question on people's minds," he said in the house.

After the vote, Dexter said Nova Scotians can decide whether they want to carry on with the Tories or elect Atlantic Canada's first NDP government to "respond to the needs of the people."

Dexter said an NDP government would focus on "human infrastructure," such as ensuring proper job training for young Nova Scotians.

"I'm happy to lay out our plans and let Nova Scotians be the judge," Dexter said.

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said the Tories should have been honest about the province's finances.

"I had said months ago I was not willing to be a participant in changing the law in this province to retroactively change the offset payment to bail this government out from its mismanagement," McNeil told CBC News.

As he prepares for the campaign trail, McNeil said it's the province's future that is at stake for Nova Scotians.

"This is about moving forward," he said. "This is about which one of us is going to lay out for Nova Scotians a positive message in how we're going to grow our economy to build and move our province forward."

The parties all have different plans, McNeil added, noting one thing a Liberal government would do is cut small business tax.

Earlier in the day, the Tories tabled their budget, which allocated $3.4 billion for health care, $1.4 billion for education and millions more for capital projects. As for taxes, there was an increase to the basic personal exemption and cuts to large corporate and small business tax rates.

The budget dies with the fall of the government.

As a minority government, the Tories held fewer seats than opposition MLAs. The Tories had 21 seats in the 52-seat legislature, the NDP had 20 and the Liberals had nine. There was one Independent and one vacant seat.

Nova Scotia has had a minority Tory government since August 2003, when John Hamm lost his majority. Under Rodney MacDonald, the party lost two seats in the June 2006 provincial election.

This will be the fifth provincial election since 1998.