HALIFAX — Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tried to boost the political fortunes of provincial NDP Leader Gary Burrill on Wednesday by making a stop on the Nova Scotia election campaign trail.

The Nova Scotia Liberals used the same strategy on July 13, days before Liberal Premier Iain Rankin called the provincial election. Rankin stood next to Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Halifax to announce a major deal for child care in the province.

But not all visits by federal counterparts are created equal, says Cape Breton University political science professor Tom Urbaniak.

"It works for the NDP, it somewhat works for the Liberals and it absolutely does not work for the Tories," Urbaniak in a recent interview.

The close alignment between the provincial and federal NDP makes an appearance from Singh a boon for the party in the last few days of the election, scheduled for Aug. 17.

"Jagmeet Singh brings name recognition," Urbaniak said. "His level of profile, and indeed his reputation across the country, has been growing, to some extent, since the last election."

Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservatives, meanwhile, have made it clear they want little to do with Conservative Party of Canada Leader Erin O'Toole, who hasn't made an appearance during the campaign. 

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston has distanced his party from the federal Conservatives. In March, Houston said it "wasn't helpful" when federal party members rejected a resolution declaring the Tories recognize "climate change is real." 

In an emailed statement, Nova Scotia Tory spokesperson Catherine Klimek said the party isn't aware of the plans of any federal leader to campaign in the province. "We will not be campaigning with any federal leader. We are focused on improving health care in Nova Scotia," Klimek wrote.

Burrill and Singh were in Halifax Wednesday to discuss the need for a national universal pharmacare program. A quarter of prescriptions written in Nova Scotia aren’t filled because residents can't afford to pay the cost of medication, Burrill said.

Singh told reporters the federal NDP is prepared to work with the provincial branch of the party to improve access to prescription drugs. 

Burrill's party is promising free birth control to anyone who doesn't have private insurance and to expand coverage for HIV prevention medication and the vaccine against shingles.

Urbaniak said visits by a federal party leader are more complicated for the Liberals. Though the federal and provincial Liberals are aligned politically, Rankin and his short tenure as premier could be overshadowed by Trudeau, Urbaniak explained.

He said Trudeau's child-care announcement "allowed Iain Rankin to share the stage with the prime minister to take some credit for that, even though the lion's share of the funding for that is federal funding," he said of the $605-million deal.

Rankin, however, hasn't had much chance to showcase his abilities as a leader and runs the risk of getting absorbed into the federal Liberals' image, Urbaniak said. "Nova Scotians will expect their premier, regardless of party stripe, regardless of party affiliation, (to) be a champion and a defender and sometimes a crusader for Nova Scotia, even if that means confronting a federal government of the same party stripe."

Urbaniak called the upcoming election "fluid," adding there is a significant amount of room for surprises once voting gets underway next week.

A recent poll from Narrative Research backs up that claim, finding that the gap between the Nova Scotia Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives is narrowing.

The polling agency said that in May, the Liberals were at 52 per cent support compared to 24 per cent for the Tories and 19 per cent for the NDP. But new polling puts the Liberals at 40 per cent, the Tories at 31 per cent and the NDP at 27 per cent. Support for the Liberals is at its lowest point in the past year while the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP are gaining momentum.

The poll surveyed 540 adult Nova Scotians between July 27 and Aug. 9, and the margin of error was plus or minus 4.2 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Danielle Edwards, The Canadian Press