D’ESCOUSSE: A Richmond County resident has received a special honour from Elections Nova Scotia (ENS), to commemorate 54 years of service that landed him the unofficial title of Canada’s longest-serving electoral officer.
Shortly after participating in what was likely his last pre-election training session last Thursday in Halifax, D’Escousse resident Raymond LeBlanc received the QSV Award from Nova Scotia’s Chief Electoral Officer, Richard Temporale.
Speaking to The Reporter, LeBlanc revealed that he did not expect such an honour, despite the recent confirmation of his official retirement from ENS.
“I was surprised, because they told me I had to attend training because I had volunteered to help if I was needed during an election,” said LeBlanc, who received a standing ovation from those in attendance at the training session in downtown Halifax.
“I figured they just wanted to brush me up if I was needed… They did training in August, and they were also training us for a possible provincial election in the spring. You’ve got to be prepared, whether there’s going to be one called or not.”
LeBlanc’s first crack at working a provincial election in the former riding of Richmond took place in 1960, as he worked alongside his father, Simon LeBlanc, who was serving as the riding’s returning officer at the time.
“My father was always interested in politics, and that year, [PC candidate] Byron Langley ran against [incumbent MLA] Earl Urquhart, who was the Liberal leader at the time… I helped my father do it, because my father wasn’t educated,” LeBlanc recalled.
“My mother was the election clerk, and I helped my father do the legwork. And when the next election came along, my father helped me to do the job. I didn’t even ask for it, but I came to like it – it was only once every three or four years, so it wasn’t bad.”
Having assumed the returning officer duties for the Richmond constituency in 1963, LeBlanc then saw the riding through another 13 elections before it was re-shaped as Cape Breton-Richmond for the 2013 election. LeBlanc also served as the new riding’s returning officer for that particular election and is ready to step in if he is needed for a new provincial vote that is expected within the next six months.
“It was enjoyable, and the pay got a little better all the time,” LeBlanc said with a laugh.
“I’m not a big wage-earner, but I did enjoy the work more than the pay… I enjoyed meeting the people. I got to meet all three of the political parties, and I got along with them well. I didn’t find it was a big challenge – I didn’t find it that hard.”
Noting that today’s computerized vote-tabulating systems are a far cry from those of the early ‘60s, LeBlanc suggested that he will miss working with his ENS colleagues on a local and provincial level.
“They were so nice to me – they treated me like a brother, you know,” he declared. “And they treat everybody the same.”
Last week’s training session also saw Dianne Rutherford sworn in as the new returning officer for the riding of Cape Breton-Richmond.