Zach Churchill steps down and N.S. Liberals begin rebuild effort

A day after a judicial recount confirmed the loss of his seat and two weeks after his party was nearly wiped out in the provincial election, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill has stepped down from the helm of the party.

Churchill represented Yarmouth since a byelection win in 2010 prior to his defeat in an election that saw the Progressive Conservatives grow their majority to 43 seats in the legislature and the NDP form Official Opposition.

"It's been the honour of my life serving my home town, my local community," Churchill told reporters in Halifax.

The party's rebuilding effort will be led by the only two Liberal MLAs in the House.

Sydney-Membertou MLA Derek Mombourquette will serve as interim leader, while Timberlea-Prospect MLA Iain Rankin will be Liberal House leader.

Mombourquette said the party's board would meet at some point to discuss a leadership race, but he said that's not top of mind right now. He said he and Rankin will take the time to go across the province to hear from party members and chart a path forward.

"It's important that we go out into the communities to talk to our candidates, to talk to these [electoral district associations], because it's going to drive a bit of the policy that you're going to see in the House," he said.

Challenges ahead

The party ran "a great campaign" with a strong platform, he said, but its 25 per cent of the popular vote did not translate into seats.

"Every party at some point has gone through this."

Rankin, a former party leader and premier, lauded Churchill's time leading the party and said he and Mombourquette are ready to roll up their sleeves.

"Our party has faced challenges before and we've always come back stronger," he said.

Rankin and Mombourquette face a massive workload as the party's rebuild begins.

Along with the need to do outreach work and rebuild at the community level, they face the prospect of shouldering cabinet critic roles between just the two of them and splitting up work on the various legislative committees.

Churchill said he isn't sure what's next for him, but he wants to remain engaged in work that focuses on policy and advocacy. He said the party remains in the black following the election, although its public funding subsidy will decrease because of a lower vote total.

He said his only regret about the campaign and his time in politics is not talking more about his "personal passion" for proportional representation.

"This election gives us a very clear example of how it is important to reform our electoral system. We've got 25 per cent of people in Nova Scotia now that are only represented by four per cent of the seats in the legislature and I certainly don't think that's a great system when it comes to empowering voters and ensuring that all voters are adequately represented."