Halifax Armdale will be a riding to watch during the election. MLA Lena Diab, who was first elected to represent the district in 2013, announced last month that she’ll be stepping down from provincial politics so she can run federally, so there will be no incumbent in this riding.
Riding background
Halifax Armdale includes the residential area east of North West Arm Drive which is bounded by Highway 102 and The Dingle. It also includes part of Long Lake Provincial Park, west of North West Arm Drive.
Covers the growing population of the Fairmount, Armdale and Cowie Hill areas.
Candidates
Liberal: Ali Duale
- Has worked as a first responder and firefighter for the last 17 years
- He emigrated to Canada from his home country of Somalia more than 20 years ago. Duale is a member of the African Nova Scotian committee that advises Halifax Regional Police
Progressive Conservative: Richard MacLean
- A football executive and teacher of technology and business management at Halifax West High School
- Represents Halifax City Local on the Nova Scotia Teachers Union Provincial Executive
- President of the International Federation of American Football, the global governing body for the sport
NDP: Julie Melanson
- Long-time resident of Halifax and the president of the Halifax Recovery Society
- The society worked with the city last year to proclaim Sept. 12, 2020, as the first Halifax Recovery Day, which celebrates recovery and breaks social stigmas around mental health and substance use disorders
Green: Jo-Ann Roberts
- Former interim leader of the federal Green Party, taking the position after Elizabeth May stepped down, and was also formerly the federal party’s deputy leader
- Former CBC journalist, working mostly in radio, Roberts left the CBC in 2014 and ran for the Greens in the Victoria riding in the 2015 federal election. She then ran in Halifax for the Greens in the 2019 federal election
Independent: Stephen Chaf
- Leader of the Independent’s Real Democracy Coalition, according to his Facebook page
- By trade, he is a systems and technology analyst
- Unsuccessfully ran for Halifax regional council in 2020
History
Before Liberal MLA Lena Diab was first elected in 2013, the riding was an NDP stronghold dating back to 1993. Graham Steele was the most recent NDP MLA to hold the seat.