Preston (electoral district)
Preston is a provincial electoral district in the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has existed from 1993 to 2013 and since 2021 and elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
 Nova Scotia electoral district | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Provincial electoral district | |||
| Legislature | Nova Scotia House of Assembly | ||
| MLA |
Progressive Conservative | ||
| District created | 1993, 2019 | ||
| First contested | 1993 | ||
| Last contested | 2023 | ||
| Demographics | |||
| Population (2006) | 10,024 | ||
| Electors | 7,680 | ||
| Area (km²) | 164 | ||
| Pop. density (per km²) | 61.1 | ||
| Census division(s) | Halifax Regional Municipality | ||
The electoral district includes the majority African Nova Scotian communities of North Preston and East Preston, plus the communities of Cherry Brook, Lake Loon, Lake Echo, Mineville, Montague Gold Mines, Westphal, and part of the Tam O'Shanter Ridge neighbourhood of Dartmouth.
The electoral district was created in 1993 and was conceived to provide representation to the area's rural Black community; roughly two-thirds of the population during the district's existence was African Nova Scotian. It was the first riding in all of Nova Scotia to feature an entirely African Nova Scotian slate of candidates in the 2021 provincial election.[1] The electoral district was abolished following the 2012 electoral boundary review when the provincial government wanted all of the province's ridings to have equal representation.[2] It was largely replaced by the new electoral district of Preston-Dartmouth. The riding was re-created following the 2019 boundary review, mostly out of Preston-Dartmouth, but also out of parts of Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank, Cole Harbour-Portland Valley, Eastern Shore and a small part of Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley. The riding was reinstated after a court challenge that also re-instated the province's three protected Acadians ridings.[3]
Geography
Preston covers 164 km2 (63 sq mi) of land area.[4]
Members of the Legislative Assembly
The electoral district was represented by the following Members of the Legislative Assembly:
| Preston | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legislature | Years | Member | Party | |
| Riding recreated from parts of Halifax Eastern Shore, Cole Harbour and Bedford-Musquodoboit Valley. |
||||
| 56th | 1993–1998 | Wayne Adams | Liberal | |
| 57th | 1998–1999 | Yvonne Atwell | New Democratic | |
| 58th | 1999–2003 | David Hendsbee | Progressive Conservative | |
| 59th | 2003–2006 | Keith Colwell | Liberal | |
| 60th | 2006–2009 | |||
| 61st | 2009–2013 | |||
| Riding dissolved into Preston-Dartmouth and Dartmouth East | ||||
| Riding recreated from parts of Preston-Dartmouth, Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank, Cole Harbour-Portland Valley, Eastern Shore, and Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley. |
||||
| 64th | 2021–2023 | Angela Simmonds | Liberal | |
| 2023–present | Twila Grosse | Progressive Conservative | ||
Election results
2023 by-election
| Nova Scotia provincial by-election, August 8, 2023 Upon the resignation of Angela Simmonds | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Twila Grosse | 1,950 | 45.22 | +16.53 | ||||
| New Democratic | Colter Simmonds | 1,145 | 26.55 | -1.37 | ||||
| Liberal | Carlo Simmons | 1,021 | 23.68 | -19.71 | ||||
| Green | Anthony Edmonds | 101 | 2.34 | – | ||||
| Nova Scotians United | Bobby Taylor | 95 | 2.20 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 4,312 | 99.29 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 31 | 0.71 | -0.08 | |||||
| Turnout | 4,343 | 38.79 | -7.56 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 11,195 | |||||||
| Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | +18.12 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Nova Scotia[5] | ||||||||
2021 general election
| 2021 Nova Scotia general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Angela Simmonds | 2,226 | 43.38 | -5.65 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Archy Beals | 1,472 | 28.69 | +6.00 | ||||
| New Democratic | Colter C.C. Simmonds | 1,433 | 27.93 | +4.36 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 5,131 | 99.21 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 41 | 0.79 | ||||||
| Turnout | 5,172 | 46.36 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 11,157 | |||||||
| Liberal notional hold | Swing | -5.82 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Nova Scotia[6] | ||||||||
| 2017 provincial election redistributed results[7] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| Liberal | 2,418 | 49.04 | |
| New Democratic | 1,162 | 23.57 | |
| Progressive Conservative | 1,119 | 22.69 | |
| Green | 231 | 4.68 | |
| Independent | 1 | 0.02 | |
2009 general election
| 2009 Nova Scotia general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Keith Colwell | 1,888 | 43.57% | 1.44% | ||||
| New Democratic | Janet Sutcliffe | 1,314 | 30.33% | 11.16% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Dwayne Provo | 1,076 | 24.83% | -12.00% | ||||
| Green | Sarah Densmore | 55 | 1.27% | -0.60% | ||||
| Total | 4,333 | – | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca. | ||||||||
2006 general election
| 2006 Nova Scotia general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Keith Colwell | 1,853 | 42.13% | 8.16% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Dwayne Provo | 1,620 | 36.83% | 4.06% | ||||
| New Democratic | Douglas Sparks | 843 | 19.17% | -12.88% | ||||
| Green | David Farrell | 82 | 1.86% | – | ||||
| Total | 4,398 | – | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca. | ||||||||
2003 general election
| 2003 Nova Scotia general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Keith Colwell | 1,411 | 33.98% | 20.60% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | David Hendsbee | 1,361 | 32.77% | -14.53% | ||||
| New Democratic | Douglas Sparks | 1,331 | 32.05% | -7.27% | ||||
| Marijuana | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 50 | 1.20% | – | ||||
| Total | 4,153 | – | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca. | ||||||||
1999 general election
| 1999 Nova Scotia general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | David Hendsbee | 1,800 | 47.31% | 27.74% | ||||
| New Democratic | Yvonne Atwell | 1,496 | 39.32% | -3.67% | ||||
| Liberal | Wendell Thomas | 509 | 13.38% | -24.07% | ||||
| Total | 3,805 | – | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca. | ||||||||
1998 general election
| 1998 Nova Scotia general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| New Democratic | Yvonne Atwell | 1,777 | 42.99% | 30.95% | ||||
| Liberal | Wayne Adams | 1,548 | 37.45% | -1.13% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Ross D. Isenor | 809 | 19.57% | -1.37% | ||||
| Total | 4,134 | – | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca. | ||||||||
1993 general election
| 1993 Nova Scotia general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Wayne Adams | 1,872 | 38.57% | – | ||||
| Independent | David Hendsbee | 1,381 | 28.46% | – | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Darryl Gray | 1,016 | 20.94% | – | ||||
| New Democratic | Yvonne Atwell | 584 | 12.03% | – | ||||
| Total | 4,853 | – | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Preston" (PDF). nslegislature.ca. Nova Scotia. Chief Electoral Officer (1993). Returns of the General Election for the House of Assembly, Thirty-Third General Election (PDF). Queen's Printer. | ||||||||
References
- Armstrong, Lyndsay. "Meet peninsula Halifax's new MLAs Ali Duale, Suzy Hansen and Lisa Lachance". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
There were three Black contenders in Preston this year—Liberal Simmonds beat the NDP's Colter Simmonds, the founder of We Will Win Youth Association, and PC Archy Beals—which is believed to be the first time any of Nova Scotia's ridings have had an all-Black slate of candidates.
- Doucette, Keith. "Commission to seek input on representation for Acadians, African Nova Scotians". CTV. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
- Doucette, Keith. "Province to restore four protected ridings for Acadians, African Nova Scotians". CTV. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
- "Find Your Electoral District for the 41st Provincial General Election". enstools.electionsnovascotia.ca. Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
- "Preston By-election 2023". Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- "Statement of Votes & Statistics" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
- Transposition of Votes from the 2017 Provincial General Election to 2019 Electoral District Boundaries