The NDP’s Suzy Hansen has been elected in the district of Halifax Needham.
Halifax Needham has been an NDP stronghold for more than two decades.
It used to be Lisa Roberts’s seat, but she announced earlier this year that she will not seek re-election because she plans to seek federal nomination in Halifax. It would be a major upset if the NDP lost its seat.
Riding background
The riding covers Halifax’s “North End,” and is bordered by Windsor Street, Bayers Road, Robie Street, Cogswell Street, and the harbour.
The riding includes the Halifax Dockyards, the Fairview Cove Container Terminal, Northwood Manor and the Leeds Street campus of Nova Scotia Community College. This is an ethnically diverse riding and it holds the original site of Africville, one of earliest Black settlements in the province.
Candidates
Liberal: Colin Coady
- Lived in Halifax his entire life and is a public defender with Nova Scotia Legal Aid.
- Studied political science at St. Francis Xavier University.
- His great-grand uncle was Moses Coady, a Roman Catholic priest who was instrumental in the “Antigonish Movement,” which helped pave the way for co-operative development across the Maritimes.
Progressive Conservative: Scott Ellis
- An environmental educator and community activist
- Founder of Protect Nova Scotia, which advocates for more land and biodiversity protection in the province
NDP: Suzy Hansen
- Described on the NDP website as a grassroots organizer, community leader and mother of seven
- Served on the Halifax Regional School Board and has worked with Phoenix youth programs for the last nine years
Green: Kai Trappenberg
- Recent Dalhousie graduate and ran in the 2017 provincial election in the Timberlea-Prospect riding, the year he graduated from high school
- His father is Thomas Trappenberg, former leader of the Green Party of Nova Scotia and current Green Party candidate for Lunenburg
History
Lisa Roberts initially won the riding in a 2016 by-election after longtime NDP MLA Maureen MacDonald retired. MacDonald won every election from 1998 to 2013. Prior to that, the riding has also gone to the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives.