Halifax is a federal

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. It is one of a handful of ridings which has been represented continuously (albeit with different boundaries) in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

since

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in 1867. The riding of Halifax includes the communities of

Spryfield Spryfield is community within the urban area of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. History The land now known as Spryfield was first occupied by the Miꞌkmaq people, who hunted and fished at Beaver Lake (now called Long Lake). The Miꞌkmaq would ...

, Sambro, Herring Cove, Harrietsfield, Williamswood, Prospect,

Purcell's Cove Purcell's Cove or Purcells Cove is a community within the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada, on the west side of Halifax Harbour from the Northwest Arm to Fergusons Cove along Route 253. The first three characters of the posta ...

, Armdale, Cowie Hill, Fairmount, Kline Heights, and the

Halifax Peninsula The Halifax Peninsula is peninsula within the urban area of the Municipality of Halifax, Nova Scotia. History The town of Halifax was founded by the British government under the direction of the Board of Trade and Plantations under the com ...

History

The electoral district was created at Confederation in 1867. It returned two members until 1968. The most notable of the riding's MPs was

Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I. Borde ...

, who was

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

leader from 1901–1920, and

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Hou ...

from 1911-1920. Borden represented the riding from 1896–1904 and again from 1909-1917. Another notable MP was

Robert Stanfield Robert Lorne Stanfield (April 11, 1914 – December 16, 2003) was a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967 and the leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative ...

, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party from 1967-1976, who represented the riding from 1968-1979. Halifax was represented by the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

from 1997 to 2015, with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

coming in second in every election from 2000 to 2015. The riding's boundaries were re-distributed in 2004. Before that date, it comprised the peninsula of Halifax, the community of Fairview, and part of Clayton Park.

Alexa McDonough Alexa Ann McDonough ( Shaw; August 11, 1944 – January 15, 2022) 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 (NSN ...

, who stepped down as NDP leader in 2003, but stayed on to represent Halifax in the

. McDonough ran for re-election against popular city councillor Sheila Fougere in 2004, who came within 1000 votes of beating the incumbent. McDonough pulled ahead based in part on a strong showing in Halifax's North End. On June 2, 2008, McDonough announced that she would not seek re-election. Following the 2012 redistribution, the riding will be gaining a small part of the riding of

Halifax West Halifax West (french: Halifax-Ouest) is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. Its population in 2021 was 111,944. Demographics ''From the 2016 census'' E ...

, on the eastern side of Long Lake Provincial Park.

Demographics

All information presented is according to the

Canada 2016 Census The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of Canadian residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by Statistics Canada, was Canada's seventh quinquennial census ...

.

Ethnic Groups: 80% European, 4.4% African Canadian, 3.8% Chinese, 3.2% Indigenous, 2.8% South Asian, 2.6% Arab
Average Age: 40.0
Average Household Size: 2.0
Languages (Mother Tongue): 83.7% English, 2.4% Arabic, 2.4% Mandarin, 2.3% French
Median household income: $56,207

Geography

The district includes the old

city of Halifax A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

except for the extreme western part, the area along the west coast of

Halifax Harbour Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax largely owes its existence to the harbour, being one of the largest and deepest ice-free natural harbo ...

and along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

until Pennant. It also includes

Sable Island Sable Island (french: île de Sable, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island i ...

. The area is .

Members of Parliament

Halifax was a two-member riding from 1867 to 1968, electing its members through

Block Voting Block voting or bloc voting refers to electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected at once and a group (voting bloc) of voters can force the system to elect only their preferred candidates. Block voting may be used at large (in a si ...

. Since 1968, it has elected just one MP in each election, electing its member though

First past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

. This riding has elected the following

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Election results

2021 general election

2019 general election

2015 general election

2011 general election

2008 general election

2006 general election

2004 general election

2000 general election

1997 general election

1993 general election

1988 general election

1984 general election

1980 general election

1979 general election

1974 general election

1972 general election

1968 general election

Halifax, 1867–1968 (two members)

References

Notes

External links

Riding history for Halifax (1867– ) from the

Library of Parliament The Library of Parliament (french: Bibliothèque du Parlement) is the main information repository and research resource for the Parliament of Canada. The main branch of the library sits at the rear of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halifax (Electoral District) Nova Scotia federal electoral districts Politics of Halifax, Nova Scotia