Improving Tory fortunes in Halifax was on the minds of Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives on Sunday as they quizzed their leader about how he plans to win more seats in the vote-rich provincial capital.

It was among a number of questions Jamie Baillie fielded at a question-and-answer session at the close of the party’s annual meeting.

The Halifax Regional Municipality is a political desert for the Tories. Some electoral districts, such as Halifax Chebucto and Halifax Needham, have not seen Tory blue in more than 20 years.

Baillie told the crowd at the Harbourfront Marriott Hotel that the solution starts with putting great candidates forward. He said it’s important to address local issues such as taking advantage of the federal shipbuilding contract that is coming to the city.

“The development of business, the growth of our tax base … I believe the PC party is talking about issues that are important to HRM,” Baillie said after the event. “That’s why we’re seeing a greater interest within HRM.”

Baillie was also asked about the government’s recent 1.3 per cent funding cut to the province’s eight school boards. Baillie says he wants to see cuts to the education bureaucracy rather than reducing funding to school boards.

“I happen to believe, as someone who wants to balance the budget as much as anyone, that the last place to go is to our classrooms and that’s the opposite of what the NDP government is doing.” 

– With files from The Canadian Press