Quick take: Dartmouth North will be a riding to watch during the election. Joanne Bernard is the Liberal MLA for the riding which was previously an NDP stronghold.
READ MORE: All our Nova Scotia Election 2017 coverage
WATCH: The candidates from Nova Scotia’s three major parties make their pitch for why the voters in Dartmouth North should cast their vote for them.
Candidates
Liberal: Bernard has been a Liberal MLA since 2013. She was the community services minister under the Liberal government. Prior to her election, she was the executive director of Alice Housing.
Progressive Conservative: Melanie Russell is a substitute teacher with the Halifax Regional School Board. She volunteers with several organizations in the area.
NDP: Susan Leblanc is an actor and the co-artistic director of Zuppa Theatre. She has served on the boards of the Mayworks Festival, Theatre Nova Scotia, the St. Patrick’s Church Refugee Committee, and Ropeworks Community Garden.
Green: Tyler Colbourne currently serves on the board of directors for the Wonder’neath Art Society in Halifax and has sat on the board of directors for the Halifax Jazz Festival and the Youth Project. He has also worked as a coordinator and manager in experiential and adult education programs in Atlantic Canada.
Atlantica Party: David F. Boyd is the Atlantica candidate in this riding.
Riding background
History: Bernard was part of the 2013 Liberal landslide. She won the riding with 44.06 per cent of the vote. Prior to her election, the riding sent an NDP MLA to the legislature in every election dating back to 1998. Before then, the riding went to both the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives. There was no incumbent leading into the 2013 election – longtime NDP MLA Trevor Zinck resigned in the expense scandal that ultimately landed him in jail.
Boundaries: The riding includes the neighbourhoods of Crichton Park, Albro Lake, Wallis Heights, Micmac Village, Tufts Cove and Shannon Park.
Demographics: Dartmouth North is a working-class area, it has a diverse population and includes pockets of low income communities. It also includes the rapidly growing Burnside Industrial Park.
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