Each General Assembly of the legislature of the province of

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, consists of one or more sessions and comes to an end upon dissolution (or constitutionally by the effluxion of time — approximately five years) and an ensuing general election. Today, the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

legislature is made up of two elements: the

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

. and a legislative assembly called the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony adm ...

. The legislature was first established in 1758. Like at the Canadian federal level, Nova Scotia uses a Westminster-style

parliamentary government A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of t ...

, in which members are elected to the House of Assembly in

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

and the leader of the party with the confidence of the Assembly (normally the party with the most seats) becomes the

Premier of Nova Scotia The premier of Nova Scotia is the first minister to the lieutenant governor of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and presides over the Executive Council of Nova Scotia. Following the Westminster system, the premier is normally the leader of t ...

and chooses the Executive Council from amongst the party's members of the Assembly. Government is carried out in the name of the King in Right of Nova Scotia, represented by the Lieutenant Governor, acting on the advice of the Executive Council (the Governor in Council). The legislature was originally bicameral. From 1758 to 1838, it had an upper house called the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

, which also held executive functions. In 1838, the Council's executive functions were given to an Executive Council, and the upper house was renamed the Legislative Council. That house was abolished in 1928.

List of Assemblies

Data before 1984 summarized from:

Post-Confederation

Pre-Confederation

Notes

{{Canadian Legislative Bodies Politics of Nova Scotia

General Assemblies A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

List of Assemblies

Post-Confederation

Pre-Confederation

See also

Notes