You stay classy, Gerald Keddy.

Fear makes people do strange things.

That’s the only plausible explanation for the Red Bull-fueled ramblings that Nova Scotians woke up to in their Chronicle-Herald this morning.

Rounding out four paragraphs of half-baked accusations against Jack Layton and the NDP, Conservative MP Gerald Keddy charges that New Democrat MPs abstained from the vote to give $1 billion in needed EI improvements for the unemployed last month.

Hmmm. That’s curious. Because the record shows every NDP MP was in their place and voted in favour of the $1 billion at second reading.

Keddy, who on occasion has been known to represent Nova Scotia’s South Shore riding, says he was there. You’d think he would have noticed the New Democrats voting in favour of the bill.

But fear makes people do strange things … like flying off the handle with attacks on your political opponents based on make-believe and fairy tales.

So why is Gerald Keddy afraid?

Likely because his South Shore riding, which looked like this in 2008:

Now looks like this following last spring's provincial election, which swept Darrel Dexter’s NDP to a historic majority government.

You stay classy, Gerald Keddy.

Premier Darrell Dexter

This, of course, is huge.

The first time a New Democrat government has been formed in Nova Scotia.

The first east of Ontario, and the first time a new party has had a breakthrough into government since 1990.

There will be plenty more firsts to come from Canada's newest government in the days to come.
For now, it’s time to congratulate Nova Scotians for their deliberate choice.

For weeks they were bombarded with baseless attacks about the "reckless" and "risky" New Democrats and warnings of doom, so often from come-from-aways.

Yet 46% of Nova Scotians put that garbage where it belonged to put their trust in the man and the party who had earned it.

Congratulations, Nova Scotia. Congratulations Premier Dexter.

Liberals' naked partisanship backfires

The Nova Scotia election hasn't even been called and already the third-place Liberals are scrambling to fire a campaign worker and apologize to a New Democrat candidate over this.

They say the most painful campaign injuries are always the self-inflicted ones.

Not sure what they say about campaign injuries before the campaign even starts though.