Though the CCF/NDP has a long history in Nova Scotia, it was unable to break the two-party system and win more than a handful of seats (if any) in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly until the 1990s.
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was formed in 1932 and ran its first candidates in the 1933 general election but failed to win any electoral representation. The party did not contest the 1937 general election.
In 1941, the future Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) president Donald MacDonald was elected from the Cape Breton South constituency. He was joined by Douglas Neil Brodie, who was elected in Cape Breton East constituency, bringing the CCF up to a total of three MLAs. Donald MacDonald was the party's leader in the Assembly until 1945.[6] He lost a close campaign in the 1945 election, but the party still retained two seats on Cape Breton Island.[7] MacDonald then transitioned into working full-time with the Canadian Congress of Labour, a predecessor of the CLC.[6] A lot of the early organization of the CCF in Nova Scotia was done by Maritime Organizer Fred Young.[8] Young would go on to continue his work in Ontario and eventually sit as a member of the Ontario Legislature, however, his early work laid the groundwork for any future advancements the party would make during this period.[9] This was evident in 1945 when two CCF members elected from Cape Breton.[10]
MacDonald led the CCF from 1953 to 1963 and was the party's sole MLA in that period, even though he won 8.9% of the popular vote for the CCF in the 1960 election.
Nova Scotia NDP (1961–present)
Following the creation of the federal and provincial New Democratic Party (NDP), MacDonald stepped down as leader and the locus of authority in the party moved to Halifax under the leadership of Professor James H. Aitchison. MacDonald lost his seat in the 1963 provincial election. The NDP would not win another until Jeremy Akerman became party leader and won the riding of Cape Breton East in the 1970 election. NDP representation in the House of Assembly grew slowly in throughout the 1970s, but never rose above four seats. The CCF had only been able to win seats on Cape Breton Island and the NDP did not win seats outside of Cape Breton until 1981. With the election of the 26-year-old Akerman as party leader in 1968, and his subsequent election to the legislature two years later, the party regained and developed its strong base in industrial Cape Breton, and won four seats in the election of 1978. However, the party failed to win any seats on the mainland, and this exacerbated tensions between the Akerman-dominated Cape Breton wing of the party and the university-based party establishment in Halifax.[11] Following increasingly bloody internal battles Akerman resigned and the NDP lost all four Cape Breton seats in the following election.[11]
Alexa McDonough
In 1980, Haligonian Alexa McDonough became leader of the Nova Scotia NDP,[12] the first female leader of a major recognized party in Canada. She was the only NDP candidate elected in 1981.[13] During her 14-year leadership, the NDP never had more than three Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Nonetheless, she raised the party's profile and become a well known advocate for the poor and disadvantaged. In a reversal of earlier times, while the NDP under McDonough won seats on the mainland for the first time, it lost all of its Cape Breton seats in the 1981 election[13] and never regained them during McDonough's leadership. She resigned as Nova Scotia NDP leader in 1994 and went on to be elected leader of the federal NDP in 1995.
Chisholm years: Breakthrough
Under Robert Chisholm's leadership, in 1998 the party vaulted from third place to ahead of the Progressive Conservatives (PCs), and won 19 seats in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, the same number of seats as won by the Liberals. The Liberals formed a minority government with the support of 14 Progressive Conservatives (Tories), the latter who had also improved their standings. An NDP government seemed imminent.
However, the party was unable to improve on its standings in the 1999 election. But with 11 seats in the legislature with 29.9% of the vote, it edged out the Liberals and were able to retain "Official Opposition" status when the PCs formed a majority government under John Hamm. Chisholm's unexpected resignation immediately following the election led to a period of internal party strife, with new leader Helen MacDonald, a former Cape Breton MLA, resigning after barely a year.
First government under Darrell Dexter
Previous logo of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party
The 2003 election resulted in a PC minority government while the NDP maintained Official Opposition status under new leader Darrell Dexter. In the election, the NDP won 15 seats and 31% of the vote, coming slightly behind the Liberals in the popular vote but winning three more seats than the Liberals' 12. In the 2006 election, the NDP managed to capitalize on its position as the Official Opposition to squeeze the Liberal vote, and the party increased its number of seats from 15 to 20, an all-time high, and won 34.63% of the vote. Unlike in 2003, in 2006 the NDP came in a clear second in the popular vote, far ahead of the Liberals.
On June 9, 2009, Dexter led the NDP to victory, winning a majority government, and was sworn in as Premier of Nova Scotia on June 19, 2009. His party's victory marked the first time that the NDP had won government in a province east of Ontario, and only the second time the party had won government east of Manitoba. When the party won in 2009, a major reason for their winning is the way the party used political marketing. The political marketing strategy was used in Manitoba years before the Nova Scotia NDP used the strategy. [14] The Dexter government lasted a single term and was defeated in the October 8, 2013 provincial election,. Although it finished second in terms of popular vote with 26.84%, the party collapsed to only seven seats, making it the third party in the legislature. This was mainly because the NDP's support in Halifax, its power base for two decades, practically melted. The NDP had gone into the election holding 14 of the capital's 20 seats, but lost all but two. Among them was Dexter, who narrowly lost his own seat. On November 16, 2013, Dexter announced his resignation as NDP leader, effective November 23, 2013.[15]
Maureen MacDonald served as interim leader from Dexter's resignation in 2013, until Gary Burrill's election as leader, in 2016.
Two members of the party's caucus, Gordie Gosse and Frank Corbett resigned for personal reasons in April 2015, triggering two of three provincial by-elections which were held on July 14. The party lost both of those seats, but Marian Mancini won the third by-election in a seat that had been held by the Liberals.
Gary Burrill
Under Gary Burrill's leadership in the 2017 election, the NDP took seven seats, the same number the party received on election night in 2013 but two more than it held going into the election. Since that election, three NDP MLAs resigned: Dave Wilson,[16]Lenore Zann,[17] and Tammy Martin.[18]
In the 2021 provincial election, the NDP won six seats and Burrill was personally re-elected.[19] On November 9, 2021, Burrill announced that he will resign as leader once a new leader is chosen.[20] He was succeeded by Claudia Chender on June 25, 2022 at a leadership convention held in Dartmouth to confirm her as leader.[21] Chender was the sole candidate to register to replace Burrill.[22]
Claudia Chender
On February 14, 2022, Claudia Chender declared her candidacy to replace Gary Burrill as leader.[23] On May 21, 2022, registration closed for the leadership race, with Chender being the sole candidate.[24] She was confirmed as leader after a general membership vote on June 25, 2022.[25] She is the third female leader of the NSNDP, with the previous female leaders being Alexa McDonough and Helen MacDonald; fourth leader, if interim leader Maureen MacDonald is included.[21]
Election results between 1933 and 1963 represent the party during its time as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. Since 1963, the party has been called the New Democratic Party.
Sources:
To 1984: Politics of Nova Scotia: Vol. Two 1896-1988 by J. Murray Beck. Four Post Publications: Tantallon, Nova Scotia, 1988.
The youth wing of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is the Nova Scotia Young New Democrats (NSYND). Founded in the early 1960s, it was not incorporated with a full constitution - aligned with that of the party proper - until 1969.
The youth wing was partially responsible for the election of Jeremy Akerman, as leader, at the 1968 Leadership Convention.
In 1994, the NSYND was renamed "The Nova Scotia NDP Youth Wing". At this time the youth wing was quite moderate, encouraging the main party to focus on government and embrace mainstream values such as fiscal responsibility, "one member one vote" and banning corporate and union donations. They also successfully lobbied the party to include more youth members in the party structure. Members and alumni of the youth wing were instrumental in forming NDProgress in 2000.
In a controversial move, the youth wing was renamed the “New Party Youth Movement” (NPYM) in 2001. The name change was made to advocate a renewal of the NDP similar the one in 1961 when the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) became the NDP. The “New Party” name was taken from the “New Party” groups formed before the creation of the NDP. The NPYM made a positive impact at the 2001 NSNDP convention pushing the party to adopt a “one member one vote” style of electing its leader, successfully distributed home-made buttons to satire an organized attempt to shame members of the NDP caucus who did not support former leader Helen MacDonald and gaining over 2/3 support from convention delegates for their name change.
The youth wing was reconstituted in 2004 under its current name, the Nova Scotia Young New Democrats (NSYND); the wing has remained ideologically in step with that of the party proper.
↑ MacDonald, Donald C., "The Happy Warrior: Political Memoirs," Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1988: 38-48.
↑ Elections Returns, 1945: Both Cape Breton ridings were won with massive majorities: Russell Cunningham with a 2613 majority and 58.9% of the vote, in Cape Breton East; and Michael McDonald with a 1,134 majority in Cape Breton Centre with 55.7% of the vote.
1 2 Canadian Press, "Void facing N.S. New Democrats...", Globe and Mail, May 19, 1980
↑ "Woman elected to lead NDP in Nova Scotia," Globe and Mail, November 17, 1980
1 2 Harris, Michael, "Official party status lost N.S. NDP leader faces lonely road," Globe and Mail, October 20, 1981
Alexa Ann McDonough was a Canadian politician who became the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Nova Scotia when she was elected the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party's (NSNDP) leader in 1980.
There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party, or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s. These were usually local or provincial groups using the Labour Party or Independent Labour Party name, backed by local labour councils made up of many union locals in a particular city, or individual trade unions. There was an attempt to create a national Canadian Labour Party in the late 1910s and in the 1920s, but these were only partly successful.
The Cape Breton Labour Party was a social democratic provincial political party in Nova Scotia, Canada, which drew most of its support from Cape Breton Island, the northern part of the province of Nova Scotia.
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.
Rodney Joseph MacDonald is a Canadian politician, educator and musician who served as the 26th premier of Nova Scotia from 2006 to 2009 and as MLA for the riding of Inverness in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1999 to 2009.
Paul MacEwan was a politician from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. His 33 years in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly made him the longest continuous serving Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Nova Scotia history. He was a contentious politician, who seemed to court controversy. So much so, he was kicked out of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (NDP) while he was a sitting member of the assembly in 1980 and caused them to lose official party status without him. He formed his own political party, the Cape Breton Labour Party, to contest the 1984 provincial election. He served one-term as its leader, before the party disintegrated because of financial issues. He eventually joined the Liberal Party of Nova Scotia, and became a Liberal member of the legislature. In 1993, he became the Speaker of the House of Assembly. His term as the speaker was marked with many controversies around bias and partisanship. His final years in the legislature saw him take prominent roles as Party Whip for the Liberals. After several health issues, he decided to not run for office again in 2003. He retired and lived another 14 years before finally succumbing to health issues in 2017, at age 74 in Sydney.
Jeremy Bernard Akerman is a former Canadian politician, writer and actor and a former leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.
Donald MacDonald was a Canadian social democratic politician and trade unionist who led the Nova Scotia Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was elected as a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1941. In 1968 he was elected President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).
Helen MacDonald is a Canadian politician. She represented the electoral district of Cape Breton The Lakes in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1997 to 1999. She was a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.
James "Buddy" MacEachern was a Canadian politician from Nova Scotia. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton Centre in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1974 to 1981. He was a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.
Michael James MacDonald was a union leader, coal miner, volunteer firefighter and politician in Nova Scotia.
Gary Clayton Burrill is a Canadian politician and was the leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party from 2016 until 2022. He served as leader during two Nova Scotia general elections in 2017 and 2021. He announced he'd be stepping down as leader after the 2021 election and was succeeded by Claudia Chender on June 25, 2022, although he continued to serve as an MLA until he decided not to run for re-election in 2024.
The 2013 Nova Scotia general election was held on October 8, 2013, to elect members to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
This page lists the results of leadership elections held by the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party. Though the party came into existence in 1961 with the merger of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress, the position of party leader was not officially created until the 1966 convention. Outgoing CCF leader Michael James MacDonald led the party in the legislature until 1963. The party was led into the 1963 provincial election by party president 1963 until 1966 James H. Aitchison who served as de facto leader until 1966 when he was officially elected to the position of leader.
The 2017 Nova Scotia general election was held on May 30, 2017, to elect members to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
The election for the leadership of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party was triggered on November 16, 2013, following Darrell Dexter's resignation after losing the seat he contested in the 2013 election. The party elected Gary Burrill as their new leader on February 27, 2016, following a one-member one-vote election held during a convention at the Holiday Inn Harbourview in Dartmouth.
Claudia Chender is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has been serving as the leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party since June 25, 2022. She was first elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in the 2017 general election, representing the electoral district of Dartmouth South. She became Nova Scotia's first female leader of the Opposition on a permanent basis, after her party won the second most seats in the 2024 general election.
The 2024 Nova Scotia general election was held on November 26, 2024, to elect members to the 65th General Assembly of Nova Scotia. The election was held under first-past-the-post voting.
The 2022 Nova Scotia New Democratic Party leadership election took place on June 25, 2022 to elect a leader to replace Gary Burrill, who announced his intention to resign on November 9, 2021 after leading the party since 2016 and following the party's defeat in the 2021 Nova Scotia general election.
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