Helen MacDonald is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician. She represented the

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 ...

Cape Breton The Lakes Cape Breton The Lakes was a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elected one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. It was created in 1978 out of areas which were formerly included in the Cape Breton North, Cape Breto ...

in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1997 to 1999. She was a member of the

Nova Scotia New Democratic Party The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is a social-democratic, progressive provincial party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the provincial entity of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP). It was founded as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C ...

Early life and career

Born in

New Waterford, Nova Scotia New Waterford (Irish language: ''Port Lairge Ùr'') is an urban community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Geography Formerly known as Barrachois (from barachois, meaning small port, lagoon or pond), its present nam ...

, MacDonald was educated at the Nova Scotia Normal College and

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

. She was a teacher and education administrator for 37 years.

Political career

A longtime NDP supporter, MacDonald first attempted to enter provincial politics in the 1988 election, finishing third in the Cape Breton-The Lakes riding behind Liberal

Bernie Boudreau James Bernard Boudreau (born July 25, 1944) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. Provincial politics Boudreau was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from Cape Breton The Lakes in the 1988 provincial election. He was re-elected in 19 ...

and Progressive Conservative incumbent John Newell. She ran again in the 1993 election, losing to Boudreau by more than 5200 votes, while edging out the Progressive Conservative candidate to finish second. Following Boudreau's resignation as MLA, MacDonald ran in the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to replace him. On November 4, 1997, MacDonald won the by-election by 665 votes, becoming the first provincial New Democrat elected from

Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

since

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. MacDonald was also the first woman MLA elected in Cape Breton. She was re-elected by 866 votes in the 1998 election, and served as caucus chairwoman and gaming critic. She was defeated when she ran for re-election in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, losing to Liberal

Brian Boudreau Brian Vincent Boudreau (July 19, 1954 – October 12, 2021) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton The Lakes in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1999 to 2003. He was a member of the Nova Scotia Libe ...

by 101 votes. On March 22, 2000, MacDonald announced that she was entering the

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

to replace Robert Chisholm as leader of the Nova Scotia New Democrats. At the leadership convention on July 15, MacDonald trailed MLA

Kevin Deveaux Kevin Eugene Deveaux (born September 24, 1966) is a Canadian lawyer and an international expert on parliaments and political parties who worked for the United Nations as the senior global adviser on parliaments and their development from 2008-2 ...

by four votes after the second ballot, but with the support of third place candidate

Maureen MacDonald Maureen MacDonald (born 1954) is a Canadian academic and politician. She represented the riding of Halifax Needham in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1998 to 2016. She served as the interim leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party fr ...

, she overtook Deveaux on the third ballot to win the leadership. MacDonald officially took over as leader on July 17. In October 2000, MacDonald announced that she would run in the Cape Breton North riding when a by-election was held to replace former Liberal premier

Russell MacLellan Russell Gregoire MacLellan (born January 16, 1940) is a Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Nova Scotia from 1997 to 1999. Early life MacLellan was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Federal politics He was first elected to the H ...

. On January 14, 2001, she was nominated to run as the NDP candidate for the riding. On March 6, 2001, MacDonald finished third in the by-election, losing to Progressive Conservative

Cecil Clarke Cecil Phillip Clarke (born April 12, 1968) is a politician in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was the mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality from 2012 to 2020, and represented the riding of Cape Breton North in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, ...

. Following the loss, MacDonald said she would continue to serve as leader, but resigned on April 24, after she learned that six members of the NDP caucus wanted to meet with her to ask for her resignation. She was succeeded by

Darrell Dexter Darrell Elvin Dexter (born 1957) 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 t ...

Personal life

MacDonald and her husband John reside in

Bras d'Or, Nova Scotia Bras d'Or is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistiq ...

. They have six children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Helen Female Canadian political party leaders Leaders of the Nova Scotia CCF/NDP Living people Nova Scotia New Democratic Party MLAs Nova Scotia Teachers College alumni People from New Waterford, Nova Scotia St. Francis Xavier University alumni Women MLAs in Nova Scotia 1943 births