Record-setting N.S. election win cost Progressive Conservatives about $1.4M

The Progressive Conservatives got plenty of bang for their buck on the way to a resounding win in the last provincial election, according to documents released this week by Elections Nova Scotia.

The Tories spent almost $1.4 million on their winning campaign.

The party's largest expenses were almost $850,000 for publicity and advertising, almost $213,000 on polling research and about $116,500 on travel.

The party recouped about $763,000 for services provided during the election to individual candidate campaigns, a provision permitted in the Elections Act.

Premier Tim Houston and his team won a record-setting 43 seats last November following an early election call that took advantage of the massive unpopularity of the federal Liberal brand at the time and then-prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Liberals spent little on polling

The Nova Scotia Liberal Party, meanwhile, spent about three-quarters of the PC total, but the effort did not translate into a corresponding share of seats at Province House.

The party was reduced to just two seats in the legislature, slipping to third place, and lost its leader, Zach Churchill, after he failed to hold his seat in Yarmouth.

The Liberals spent almost $1.04 million on their campaign, with the top costs including publicity and advertising (almost $760,000), travel ($121,000) and worker remuneration ($99,000).

Almost all of the party's campaign costs were recouped through charges to individual candidate campaigns for services provided during the election.

The Liberals spent about $21,000 on polling research.

Cost of winning Independent campaign

Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, who retained her seat in Cumberland North as an Independent, spent $50,310.33 on her campaign, well below the district maximum of almost $97,000.

Smith-McCrossin's largest campaign expenditure by far was publicity and advertising, which cost almost $26,200.

The Green Party of Nova Scotia, which did not elect an MLA, spent about $14,200 on its campaign.

The party's main expenses included $5,000 for worker remuneration and about the same amount for signs. It spent $3,245.30 on publicity and advertising.

Figures for the Nova Scotia NDP are not yet public, although a party spokesperson said they spent a similar amount to the Progressive Conservatives.

The deadline for registered parties to submit financial reports was Wednesday, the NDP received a one-day extension.

Officials with Elections Nova Scotia spend several days reviewing the information after it's submitted before it is posted online.

The NDP won nine seats in the election and formed the Official Opposition.