Preston (electoral district)

Not to be confused with Electoral district of Preston, Preston (ward), or Preston (UK Parliament constituency).

Preston

Nova Scotia electoral district
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Nova Scotia House of Assembly
MLA	Twila Grosse Progressive Conservative
District created	1991, 2019
First contested	1993
Last contested	2024
Demographics
Population (2006)	10,024
Electors	7,680
Area (km²)	164
Pop. density (per km²)	61.1
Census division(s)	Halifax Regional Municipality

Preston is a provincial electoral district in the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has existed from 1993 to 2013 and since 2021 and elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.

The electoral district includes the majority African Nova Scotian communities of North Preston and East Preston, plus the communities of Cherry Brook, Lake Loon, Lake Echo, Mineville, Montague Gold Mines, Westphal, and part of the Tam O'Shanter Ridge neighbourhood of Dartmouth.

The electoral district was created in 1991 and was conceived to provide representation to the area's rural Black community. ^[1] The electoral district was abolished following the 2012 electoral boundary review when the provincial government wanted all of the province's ridings to have equal representation. ^[2] It was largely replaced by the new electoral district of Preston-Dartmouth. The riding was re-created following the 2019 boundary review, mostly out of Preston-Dartmouth, but also out of parts of Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank, Cole Harbour-Portland Valley, Eastern Shore and a small part of Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley. The riding was reinstated after a court challenge that also re-instated the province's three protected Acadians ridings. ^[3]

It was the first riding in all of Nova Scotia to feature an entirely African Nova Scotian slate of candidates in the 2021 provincial election. ^[4]

Geography

Preston covers 164 km² (63 sq mi) of land area. ^[5]

Members of the Legislative Assembly

The electoral district was represented by the following members of the Legislative Assembly:

Preston
Legislature	Years	Member		Party
Riding recreated from parts of Halifax Eastern Shore, Cole Harbour and Bedford-Musquodoboit Valley.
56th	1993–1998		Wayne Adams	Liberal
57th	1998–1999		Yvonne Atwell	New Democratic
58th	1999–2003		David Hendsbee	Progressive Conservative
59th	2003–2006		Keith Colwell	Liberal
60th	2006–2009
61st	2009–2013
Riding dissolved into Preston-Dartmouth and Dartmouth East
Riding recreated from parts of Preston-Dartmouth, Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank, Cole Harbour-Portland Valley, Eastern Shore, and Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley.
64th	2021–2023		Angela Simmonds	Liberal
	2023–2024		Twila Grosse	Progressive Conservative
65th	2024–present

Election results

2024

v t e 2024 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Twila Grosse	2,056	51.3%
	New Democratic	C.C. Simmonds	1,177	29.4%
	Liberal	Carlo Simmons	709	17.7%
	Green	Andre Anderson	66	1.6%
Total valid votes
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			4,008
Eligible voters
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing
Source: Elections Nova Scotia [6]

2023 by-election

Nova Scotia provincial by-election, August 8, 2023 Resignation of Angela Simmonds
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	Twila Grosse	1,950	45.22	+16.53	$49,241.83
	New Democratic	Colter Simmonds	1,145	26.55	-1.37	$70,390.30
	Liberal	Carlo Simmons	1,021	23.68	-19.71	$46,215.10
	Green	Anthony Edmonds	101	2.34	–	$930.16
	Nova Scotians United	Bobby Taylor	95	2.20	–	$5,782.79
Total valid votes/Expense limit			4,312	99.29	–	$76,489.21
Total rejected ballots			31	0.71	-0.08
Turnout			4,343	38.79	-7.56
Eligible voters			11,195
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+18.12
Source: Elections Nova Scotia [7]

2021

v t e 2021 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Angela Simmonds	2,226	43.38	-5.65	$32,830.44
	Progressive Conservative	Archy Beals	1,472	28.69	+6.00	$22,433.28
	New Democratic	Colter C.C. Simmonds	1,433	27.93	+4.36	$34,576.51
Total valid votes/expense limit			5,131	99.21	–	$67,272.14
Total rejected ballots			41	0.79
Turnout			5,172	46.36
Eligible voters			11,157
	Liberal notional hold		Swing		-5.82
Source: Elections Nova Scotia [8]

2017 provincial election redistributed results [9]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	2,418	49.04
	New Democratic	1,162	23.57
	Progressive Conservative	1,119	22.69
	Green	231	4.68
	Independent	1	0.02

2009

2009 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Keith Colwell	1,888	43.57%	1.44%
	New Democratic	Janet Sutcliffe	1,314	30.33%	11.16%
	Progressive Conservative	Dwayne Provo	1,076	24.83%	-12.00%
	Green	Sarah Densmore	55	1.27%	-0.60%
Total			4,333	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

2006

2006 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Keith Colwell	1,853	42.13%	8.16%
	Progressive Conservative	Dwayne Provo	1,620	36.83%	4.06%
	New Democratic	Douglas Sparks	843	19.17%	-12.88%
	Green	David Farrell	82	1.86%	–
Total			4,398	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

2003

2003 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Keith Colwell	1,411	33.98%	20.60%
	Progressive Conservative	David Hendsbee	1,361	32.77%	-14.53%
	New Democratic	Douglas Sparks	1,331	32.05%	-7.27%
	Marijuana	Marc-Boris St-Maurice	50	1.20%	–
Total			4,153	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1999

1999 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	David Hendsbee	1,800	47.31%	27.74%
	New Democratic	Yvonne Atwell	1,496	39.32%	-3.67%
	Liberal	Wendell Thomas	509	13.38%	-24.07%
Total			3,805	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1998

1998 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Yvonne Atwell	1,777	42.99%	30.95%
	Liberal	Wayne Adams	1,548	37.45%	-1.13%
	Progressive Conservative	Ross D. Isenor	809	19.57%	-1.37%
Total			4,134	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1993

1993 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wayne Adams	1,872	38.57%	–
	Independent	David Hendsbee	1,381	28.46%	–
	Progressive Conservative	Darryl Gray	1,016	20.94%	–
	New Democratic	Yvonne Atwell	584	12.03%	–
Total			4,853	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca. Nova Scotia. Chief Electoral Officer (1993). Returns of the General Election for the House of Assembly, Thirty-Third General Election (PDF). Queen's Printer.

References

1. Drolet, Gabrielle (2021-08-05). "Why Nova Scotia voting districts changed for the 2021 election". The Coast. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
2. Doucette, Keith. "Commission to seek input on representation for Acadians, African Nova Scotians". CTV. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
3. Doucette, Keith. "Province to restore four protected ridings for Acadians, African Nova Scotians". CTV. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
4. Armstrong, Lyndsay. "Meet peninsula Halifax's new MLAs Ali Duale, Suzy Hansen and Lisa Lachance". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 15 September 2021. There were three Black contenders in Preston this year—Liberal Simmonds beat the NDP's Colter Simmonds, the founder of We Will Win Youth Association, and PC Archy Beals—which is believed to be the first time any of Nova Scotia's ridings have had an all-Black slate of candidates.
5. "Find Your Electoral District for the 41st Provincial General Election". enstools.electionsnovascotia.ca. Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
6. https://globalnews.ca/news/10865554/nova-scotia-election-2024-preston/
7. "Preston By-election 2023". Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
8. "Statement of Votes & Statistics" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
9. Transposition of Votes from the 2017 Provincial General Election to 2019 Electoral District Boundaries