The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is a social democratic party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is aligned with the federal New Democratic Party of Canada. Originally founded as the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in 1932, it became the NDP in 1961.

Since shortly after confederation, Nova Scotia has had a two-party system. Power alternated between the Liberals and Conservatives.

Though the CCF/NDP has a long history in Nova Scotia, it was unable to break the two-party system and win more than a handful of seats (if any) in the Nova Scotia legislature until the 1990s.

In 1980, Alexa McDonough became leader of the Nova Scotia NDP, the first female leader of a major party in Canada. While she was sometimes the only NDPer in the legislature, and had, at most, a caucus of four MLAs, she raised the party's profile. McDonough laid the basis for its breakthrough in the 1990s under Robert Chisholm, who succeeded McDonough as provincial NDP leader in 1996.

Under Chisolm's leadership, in 1998 the party won 19 seats in the Nova Scotia legislature, the same number as the Liberals. The Liberals formed a minority government with the support of the Progressive Conservatives. The prospect of an NDP government seemed imminent.

However, the party was unable to improve on its standings in the 1999 election. But with 11 seats in the legislature with 29.9% of the vote, it edged out the Liberals and were able to hold Official Opposition status when the Tories formed a majority government under John Hamm.

The 2003 election resulted in a Tory minority government. The NDP maintained Official Opposition status under new leader Darrell Dexter. The NDP won 15 seats and 31% of the vote.

The political scene in Nova Scotia remains tightly divided among the three parties, with any poised to form government.

See also: List of political parties in Canada

External links

• Nova Scotia NDP (http://www.ns.ndp.ca/)