Nova Scotia is a province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and most populous province in Atlantic Canada, with an estimated population of over 1 million as of 2024; it is also the second-most densely populated province in Canada, and second-smallest province by area. The province comprises the Nova Scotia peninsula and Cape Breton Island, as well as 3,800 other coastal islands. The province is connected to the rest of Canada by the Isthmus of Chignecto, on which the province's land border with New Brunswick is located.
National referendums are seldom used in Canada. The first two referendums in 1898 and 1942 saw a large number of voters in Quebec and in the remainder of Canada take dramatically-opposing stands, and the third in 1992 saw most of the voters take a stand opposed to that of the party in power.
John Frederick Hamm is a Canadian physician and politician, who served as the 25th premier of Nova Scotia from 1999 to 2006.
Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2023, it is estimated that the population of the Halifax CMA was 518,711, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.
Pete Luckett is a British-Canadian entrepreneur and media personality known as a culinary fruit and vegetable expert. A native of Nottingham, England, Luckett emigrated to Canada in 1979, settling in Saint John, New Brunswick. In the early 1990s, he moved from Saint John to Bedford, Nova Scotia; he currently makes his home in Gaspereau, Nova Scotia.
Sunday shopping or Sunday trading refers to the ability of retailers to operate stores on Sunday, a day that Christian tradition typically recognises as a day of rest, though the rationale for Sunday trade bans often includes secular reasoning. Rules governing shopping hours, such as Sunday shopping, vary around the world but many countries and subnational jurisdictions continue to ban or restrict Sunday shopping. In the United States, rules are enshrined within Blue laws.
Darrell Elvin Dexter is a Canadian lawyer, journalist and former naval officer who served as the 27th premier of Nova Scotia from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party, he served as party leader from 2001 to 2013. He became Premier in 2009 after his party defeated the governing Progressive Conservative Party, leading the first NDP government in Atlantic Canada and the second east of Manitoba. His government was defeated in the 2013 election, becoming the first Nova Scotia government in 131 years to be denied a second mandate; Dexter himself was defeated in his constituency by 21 votes. Dexter now serves as a lobbyist for the cannabis industry.
Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a vertically integrated electric utility in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB). Nova Scotia Power provides electricity to 520,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Nova Scotia.
Percy Alonzo Paris is a former Canadian politician from Nova Scotia. He represented the constituency of Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party from 2006 to 2013.
The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) is the Crown corporation which controls sales of alcoholic beverages and recreational cannabis in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the sole distributor for these products and runs all retail outlets selling alcohol and cannabis products. The exceptions are for four private retailers in urban HRM offering beer, wine, and spirits, and, in rural areas where there is not an NSLC location, 65 "agency" liquor stores operated by private retailers on NSLC's behalf.
The Boston Christmas Tree is the City of Boston, Massachusetts' official Christmas tree. A tree has been lit each year since 1941, and since 1971 it has been given to the people of Boston by the people of Nova Scotia in thanks for their assistance after the 1917 Halifax Explosion. The tree is lit in the Boston Common throughout the Christmas season.
Black Nova Scotians are Black Canadians whose ancestors primarily date back to the Colonial United States as slaves or freemen, later arriving in Nova Scotia, Canada during the 18th and early 19th centuries. As of the 2021 Census of Canada, 28,220 Black people live in Nova Scotia, most in Halifax. Since the 1950s, numerous Black Nova Scotians have migrated to Toronto for its larger range of opportunities. The first recorded free African person in Nova Scotia, Mathieu da Costa, a Mikmaq interpreter, was recorded among the founders of Port Royal in 1604. West Africans escaped slavery by coming to Nova Scotia in early British and French Colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many came as enslaved people, primarily from the French West Indies to Nova Scotia during the founding of Louisbourg. The second major migration of people to Nova Scotia happened following the American Revolution, when the British evacuated thousands of slaves who had fled to their lines during the war. They were given freedom by the Crown if they joined British lines, and some 3,000 African Americans were resettled in Nova Scotia after the war, where they were known as Black Loyalists. There was also the forced migration of the Jamaican Maroons in 1796, although the British supported the desire of a third of the Loyalists and nearly all of the Maroons to establish Freetown in Sierra Leone four years later, where they formed the Sierra Leone Creole ethnic identity.
Pat Dunn is a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Pictou Centre in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2006 to 2009, and from 2013 to 2024, as a member of the Progressive Conservatives. He served as Minister of Health Promotion and Protection in the Executive Council of Nova Scotia.
Labi Kousoulis is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in the 2013 provincial election. A member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party, he represented the electoral district of Halifax Citadel-Sable Island until his defeat in the 2021 Nova Scotia general election.
Brendan Oliver Maguire is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in the 2013 provincial election. Elected as a member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party, he joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia in February 2024. He represents the electoral district of Halifax Atlantic.
Iain Thomas Rankin is a Canadian politician who served as the 29th premier of Nova Scotia from February 23, 2021, to August 31, 2021. He serves in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for the Nova Scotia Liberal Party, representing the electoral district of Timberlea-Prospect. Rankin was first elected in the 2013 Nova Scotia general election and was re-elected in the 2017, the 2021 and the 2024 general elections. On February 6, 2021, Rankin was announced the Leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party after a competitive leadership race.
Cannabis in Ontario is legal for both medical and recreational purposes. Cannabis in Canada has been legal for medicinal purposes since 2001 under conditions outlined in the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations, issued by Health Canada, while seed, grain, and fibre production are permitted under licence. The federal Cannabis Act, legalizing cannabis for recreational use, came into effect on 17 October 2018.
On October 17, 2018, cannabis was legalized in Canada for recreational and medical purposes. It was already legal for medicinal purposes, under conditions outlined in the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations issued by Health Canada, and for seed, grain, and fibre production under licence by Health Canada.
Cannabis has been legal in Nova Scotia and the entire country of Canada since October 17, 2018, the effective date of the Cannabis Act. Each province and territory set its own laws for various aspects, such as the legal age, whether householders can grow cannabis and the method of retail sales. Cannabis has been legal in Canada for medicinal purposes since 2001 under conditions outlined in the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, later superseded by the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations, issued by Health Canada and seed, grain, and fibre production was permitted under licence by Health Canada.
The Atlantic Bubble was a special travel-restricted area created on July 3, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The area was an agreement between the four Atlantic Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador which allowed unrestricted travel among provincial residents and restricted travel from Canadians who were residents of outside provinces. Residents wishing to travel to the Atlantic Bubble were subjected to screening and were required to quarantine for 14 days before moving freely throughout the bubble. Individual provinces had specific rules toward travellers from outside of Atlantic Canada. The provinces in the bubble saw the lowest numbers of COVID-19 compared to other Canadian provinces throughout the pandemic.
