1953 Nova Scotia general election

1953 Nova Scotia general election

←  1949 May 26, 1953 1956  →
←  outgoing members members  →
37 seats of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly 19 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	75.79% 1.88pp
First party Second party Third party   CCF Leader Angus Lewis Macdonald Robert Stanfield Russell Cunningham Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Co-operative Commonwealth Leader since August 31, 1945 November 10, 1948 1945 Leader's seat Halifax South Colchester Cape Breton East Last election 27 8 2 Seats won 23 [1] 12 2 Seat change 4 4 Popular vote 169,894 149,973 23,700 Percentage 48.92% 43.18% 6.82% Swing 2.05pp 3.97pp 2.78pp
Premier before election Angus Lewis Macdonald Liberal Premier after election Angus Lewis Macdonald Liberal

The 1953 Nova Scotia general election was held on 26 May 1953 to elect members of the 45th House of Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It was won by the Liberal party.

Results

Results by party

↓

23	12	2
Liberal	Progressive Conservative	CCF

Official results ^[2]

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats				Popular vote
				1949	Dissolution	Elected	Change	#	%	Change (pp)
	Liberal	Angus Lewis Macdonald	37	27	27	23	-4	169,894	48.92%	–2.05%
	Progressive Conservative	Robert Stanfield	37	8	8	12	+4	149,973	43.18%	+3.97%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Russell Cunningham	16	2	2	2	0	23,700	6.82%	–2.78%
	Independent		1	0	0	0	0	2,065	0.59%	+0.37%
	Vacant				0
Total valid votes								345,632	99.52%	+0.06%
Blank and invalid ballots								1,658	0.48%	–0.06%
Total			91	37	37	37	–	347,290	100.00%	–
Registered voters / turnout								370,293	75.79% [3]	-1.88%

Popular vote Liberal   48.92% PC   43.18% CCF   6.82% Independent   0.59%

Seats summary Liberal   62.16% PC   32.43% CCF   5.41%

Results by region

Party name			HRM	Cape Breton	Annapolis Valley	South Shore	Fundy-Northeast	Central Nova	Total
Parties winning seats in the legislature
	Liberal	Seats:	5	7	3	1	2	5	23
		Popular vote:	55.44%	46.98%	49.91%	45.58%	47.95%	49.25%	48.92%
	Progressive Conservative	Seats:	0	0	3	5	4	0	12
		Popular vote:	40.96%	30.13%	50.09%	53.49%	49.56%	39.00%	43.18%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Seats:	0	2	0	0	0	0	2
		Popular vote:	3.60%	22.89%	–	0.93%	2.49%	5.61%	6.82%
Parties not winning seats in the legislature
	Independent	Popular vote:	–	–	–	–	–	6.14%	0.59%
Total seats:			5	9	6	6	6	5	37

Retiring incumbents

Progressive Conservative

• E. Keith Potter, Digby

Nominated candidates

Legend
bold denotes party leader
† denotes an incumbent who is not running for re-election or was defeated in nomination contest

Valley

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		CCF		Independent
Annapolis		Henry Hicks 5,006 51.55%		Charles F. LeBrun 4,705 48.45%						Henry Hicks
Clare		Pierre E. Belliveau 2,307 58.46%		Desire J. Comeau 1,639 41.54%						Desire J. Comeau
Digby		Victor Cardoza 2,770 52.40%		Malcolm Stewart Leonard 2,516 47.60%						E. Keith Potter†
Hants West		Ken Eisner 3,120 46.37%		George Henry Wilson 3,608 53.63%						George Henry Wilson
Kings		David Durell Sutton 7,245 24.63%		George Arthur Boggs 7,481 25.43%						David Durell Sutton
		William H. Pipe 7,047 23.96%		Edward Haliburton 7,642 25.98%						William H. Pipe

South Shore

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		CCF		Independent
Lunenburg		Arthur L. Thurlow 6,940 21.53%		R. Clifford Levy 8,727 27.07%		Winfred Llewellyn 204 0.63%				Arthur L. Thurlow
		Gordon E. Romkey 7,381 22.90%		Harley J. Spence 8,741 27.12%		G. Boyd Crouse 241 0.75%				Gordon E. Romkey
Queens		Merrill D. Rawding 2,838 45.77%		W. S. Kennedy Jones 3,230 52.09%		Claude VanBuskirk 133 2.14%				Merrill D. Rawding
Shelburne		Wilfred Dauphinee 3,256 51.20%		James McKay Harding 3,103 48.80%						Wilfred Dauphinee
Yarmouth		Allan d'Entremont 4,067 23.59%		William Heartz Brown 4,859 28.18%						William Heartz Brown
		Donald J. Fraser 3,790 21.98%		Raymond Z. Bourque 4,524 26.24%						Donald J. Fraser

Fundy-Northeast

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		CCF		Independent
Colchester		Gordon Purdy 7,255 24.20%		Robert Stanfield 7,677 25.61%		Harvey Curtis 324 1.08%				Robert Stanfield
		Hector Hill 6,963 23.23%		George Isaac Smith 7,435 24.80%		Sydney Parker 326 1.09%				George Isaac Smith
Cumberland Centre		Archibald J. Mason 2,012 40.65%		Stephen T. Pyke 2,262 45.70%		Florence Welton 676 13.66%				Archibald J. Mason
Cumberland East		Martin J. Kaufman 4,214 48.96%		James A. Langille 4,393 51.04%						Martin J. Kaufman
Cumberland West		Allison T. Smith 2,799 54.55%		Thomas A. Giles 2,332 45.45%						Thomas A. Giles
Hants East [4]		Alfred E. Reid 2,251 50.01%		Ernest M. Ettinger 2,250 49.99%						Ernest M. Ettinger

Halifax/Dartmouth/Eastern Shore

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		CCF		Independent
Halifax Centre		James Edward Rutledge 5,603 57.69%		R. Leo Simmonds 4,109 42.31%						James Edward Rutledge
Halifax East		Geoffrey W. Stevens 8,436 50.83%		Lt. Col. R.D. King 7,196 43.36%		Harper Power 964 5.81%				Geoffrey W. Stevens
Halifax North		Harold Connolly 8,148 61.37%		Harold J. Bartlow 4,481 33.75%		Richard J. Hardiman 648 4.88%				Harold Connolly
Halifax South		Angus Lewis Macdonald 5,751 59.68%		John R. Milledge 3,885 40.32%						Angus Lewis Macdonald
Halifax West		Ronald Manning Fielding 8,061 51.31%		Earle Haverstock 6,927 44.09%		L.C. Wilson 723 4.60%				Ronald Manning Fielding

Central Nova

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		CCF		Independent
Antigonish		Colin H. Chisholm 2,624 48.92%		Terrance Bernard Thompson 675 12.58%				Vincent J. MacDonald 2,065 38.50%		Colin H. Chisholm
Guysborough		Arthur W. MacKenzie 3,470 56.29%		A. Grant MacDonald 2,694 43.71%						Arthur W. MacKenzie
Pictou Centre		Alfred B. DeWolfe 5,155 45.41%		Robert D. MacDonald 4,534 39.94%		Donald Nicholson 1,662 14.64%				Alfred B. DeWolfe
Pictou East		John W. MacDonald 2,681 48.78%		William A. MacLeod 2,592 47.16%		Joseph D. Ryan 223 4.06%				John W. MacDonald
Pictou West		Stewart W. Proudfoot 2,628 50.09%		Harvey Veniot 2,619 49.91%						Stewart W. Proudfoot

Cape Breton

Electoral district	Candidates								Incumbent
	Liberal		PC		CCF		Independent
Cape Breton Centre		Martin MacPherson 2,816 30.70%		Charles P. Miller 1,905 20.77%		Michael James MacDonald 4,451 48.53%				Michael James MacDonald
Cape Breton East		Joseph McIntyre 3,934 37.88%		William Wilton 1,356 13.06%		Russell Cunningham 5,096 49.07%				Russell Cunningham
Cape Breton North		Alexander O'Handley 4,674 47.45%		John Norman MacAskill 3,115 31.62%		Daniel Joseph MacEachern 2,062 20.93%				Alexander O'Handley
Cape Breton South		John Smith MacIvor 6,467 44.67%		A.O. Gunn 3,384 23.38%		Vincent Allan Morrison 4,625 31.95%				John Smith MacIvor
Cape Breton West		Malcolm A. Patterson 3,730 48.86%		Edward Manson 2,562 33.56%		Harry Munroe 1,342 17.58%				Malcolm A. Patterson
Inverness		Alexander H. McKinnon 4,725 29.17%		Leo P. Boudreau 3,585 22.13%						Alexander H. McKinnon
		Roderick MacLean 4,513 27.86%		Alex A. MacInnis 3,374 20.83%						Roderick MacLean
Richmond		Earl Wallace Urquhart 2,970 58.30%		Francis Whyte 2,124 41.70%						Earl Wallace Urquhart
Victoria		Carleton L. MacMillan 2,247 56.47%		Joseph L. MacNeil 1,732 43.53%						Carleton L. MacMillan

References

1. 16 November 1954 deferred by-election for Hants East seat, won by Liberal candidate
2. "Election Returns 1953" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
3. While 347,290 votes were cast, only 280,661 electors voted as electors in several districts voted for two candidates.
4. In the riding of Hants East, Progressive Conservative Ernest M. Ettinger's 1-vote lead on election lead became a 1-vote lead for the Liberal's Alfred E. Reid after a judicial recount. After an appeal, a judge then decided to throw out the results of the general election; a by-election was held several months later to fill the seat and was won by Reid.