2013 Nova Scotia election: A look at the new electoral map of the province.

On Saturday, Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter announced that Nova Scotians would be heading the polls on October 8, ending months of speculation as to when the province would be going to the polls. Dexter currently leads the first N.D.P. Government in provincial history, which was elected in 2009. Going into Saturday's announcement, his party trails the Liberals by 10 points, according to the most recent CRA poll conducted in August.

 

Nova Scotia's 51 new provincial ridings

The 2013 election will be fought on new boundaries, which were drawn up last year, amid some controversy. The election will fought in 51 ridings, instead of the 52 that were contested last election. Rural Nova Scotia will be losing three ridings, while the Halifax Metro area will be gaining 2 seats. The Halifax Regional Municipality is the fastest growing census division in the province (increasing 4.7% between 2006 and 2011), while all but six census divisions (counties) in Nova Scotia are seeing a decrease in population. Nova Scotia as a whole saw an increase of just 0.9% between censuses.

The biggest controversy surrounding the boundary changes was due to the fact that four specially designated ethnic ridings (three Acadian, and one African Nova Scotian) were to be abolished. These four ridings were significantly underpopulated, as their existence was to give minority groups representation in the legislature. This fact may not be backed up by reality however, as the African Nova Scotian riding, Preston- is currently represented by a White MLA (but has in the past elected MLAs of African descent, including a New Democrat). The government was criticized, because they passed legislation recommending that all ridings be of equal size, which meant that these four ridings, all held by opposition parties would be abolished (i.e. merged into neighbouring ridings). The Liberals and Tories opposed the plan.
 
Elections Nova Scotia was nice enough to publish the re-distributed 2009 election results for the new riding boundaries. However, where there were more recent by-elections, they used the results from those by-elections in their redistributed results. Why they did this is a mystery, as it makes the data inconsistent, and makes comparing to the 2009 election an incomplete task. However, thanks to krago from the uselectionatlas, who sent me poll maps from the ridings that had by-elections (now since taken down from the Elections Nova Scotia site), I was able to figure out the redistributed results for those ridings myself.
Here are the 2009 election results for the new ridings that overlap ridings that had by-elections since the 2009 election:

New riding	NDP votes (%)	Lib votes (%)	PC votes (%)	Grn votes (%)	Oth votes (%)
Antigonish	2989 (34.6)	2189 (25.3)	3313 (38.3)	148 (1.7)
Guysborough-Eastern Shore-Tracadie	4004 (50.2)	1786 (22.4)	2085 (26.2)	95 (1.2)
Northside-Westmount	3974 (41.1)	1805 (18.67)	3741 (38.7)	148 (1.5)
Victoria-The Lakes	2165 (28.6)	2221 (29.3)	2931 (38.7)	167 (2.2)	97 (1.3)
Cumberland South	1917 (27.1)	395 (5.6)	4447 (62.8)	104 (1.5)	221 (3.1)
Inverness	1365 (17.2)	1601 (20.2)	4647 (58.7)	302 (3.8)
Cape Breton-Richmond	2175 (26.8)	3720 (45.9)	2078 (25.6)	129 (1.6)

In addition, the ridings of Glace Bay and Yarmouth had by-elections since 2009, but their boundaries have not changed, so there was no need to find the redistributed results, just use the 2009 results in those ridings.
The Elections Nova Scotia redistributed results show the NDP winning Antigonish, the Liberals winning Inverness, the Liberals winning Yarmouth and the Tories winning Northside-Westmount. However, this is due to the by-elections that happened since the last election. In 2009, these four new ridings would have all gone PC except Northside-Westmount which would have gone NDP (surprisingly, since its predecessor riding, Cape Breton North went PC).

Having a look at the redistributed results, it is clear that the NDP does go into this election with a more favourable map than in 2009. The redistributed results would have given them two new seats, while the Liberals would have won two fewer, and the Tories would have won one fewer:

Party	2009 seats (actual)	2009 seats (new boundaries)
NDP	31	33 (+2)
Liberals	11	9 (-2)
PC	10	9 (-1)

As mentioned, rural Nova Scotia loses three seats. One in Cape Breton, one in West Nova, and one on the south shore. Two are gained in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). While the loss of a seat in the South Shore means a loss of a seat for the NDP, this is gained by a favourable redistribution in Cape Breton which would give them the new riding of Northside-Westmount, plus the addition of the two new HRM ridings which would have gone NDP. The Liberals lose two seats, one in West Nova and one in Cape Breton. The Tories’ loss goes to the NDP as the former Cape Breton North riding which was won by the PCs has taken a chunk out of the former riding of Cape Breton South which went Liberal, but the had the Tories finish a distant third. The result gives the NDP a narrow notional win. 

Pictogram created by Space7 at uselectionatlas.org of the new ridings coloured by how they went in 2009 (same colour key)

Redistribution highlights

• In West Nova, the underpopulated Acadian riding of Clare has been merged with neighbouring riding Digby-Annapolis to form the new riding of Clare-Digby. Clare was one of the three Acadian ridings that were previously protected but were abolished in the new redistribution. Both Digby-Annapolis and Clare-Digby were Liberal ridings, and neither incumbent (Wayne Gaudet or Harold Theriault) are running for re-election. The rest of the ridings in the region were retained, with Annapolis taking in the Annapolis County portion of the former Digby-Annapolis riding.
• On the South Shore, the ridings of Queens and Shelburne have been merged together into the new riding of Queens-Shelburne. Both Queens and Shelburne went NDP in 2009. Shelburne MLA Sterling Belliveau will be seeking re-election in the new district, while Queens MLA Vicki Conrad will be resigning. Elsewhere in the region, the Acadian riding of Argyle has expanded to include the District of Barrington which was previously in the riding of Shelburne. Argyle was one of those underpopulated minority ridings that were previously protected. Redistribution may not affect its representation, as Argyle MLA and Acadian Chris d’Entremont will be seeking re-election in Argyle-Barrington. In addition to this, Lunenburg West expands westward a bit to take in part of the former riding of Queens
• In Northern Nova Scotia, there was little in terms of boundary changes, except some of Cumberland North being transferred to Cumberland South. In terms of riding name changes, Truro-Bible Hill becomes the convoluted “Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River” despite having no boundary changes.
• In Central Nova, the underpopulated (due to Guysborough County being the fastest shrinking county in the province) Guysborough-Sheet Harbour riding is expanding to take in a small portion of Antigonish riding (Antigonish County being the second fastest growing county in the province) and will be renamed “Guysborough-Eastern Shore-Tracadie”.
• As mentioned, Cape Breton loses one seat. The entire island has been redistributed, with only four ridings retaining the same name. Cape Breton loses one riding, but since there is one vacancy in the region, all 8 incumbents have found separate seats to run in, in a “musical chairs” type scenario. The ridings of Cape Breton Centre, Glace Bay, Inverness and Victoria-The Lakes are the only ridings to retain their names, and of those only Glace Bay retains the same boundaries as the 2009 election. If we want to pick a riding that has been abolished, we might as well pick the vacated riding-Cape Breton South. A majority of this riding will be retained in the new riding of Sydney-Whitney Pier, but more of that riding has come from Cape Breton Nova. The other three new ridings are Cape Breton-Richmond (created from all of the Acadian riding of Richmond, and small parts of Inverness and Cape Breton West), Northside-Westmound (created from most of Cape Breton North and part of Cape Breton South), and Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg (created mostly from Cape Breton West, and from small parts of Cape Breton South and Cape Breton Nova). The loss of the Cape Breton South riding means a loss of a safe Liberal seat in the region.
• The growth in central Halifax has ensured that the region would gain one new seat- which if it existed in 2009, would have ensured the NDP would win an extra seat. Just two ridings in central Halifax will be retaining their names: Halifax Chebucto and Halifax Needham. An additional riding- Halifax Citadel-Sable Island is only adding “Sable Island” despite Sable Island already being in the riding of Halifax Citadel, and having a grand total population of five. These three ridings- located on the urban Halifax Peninsula, only faced minor boundary changes, while the more suburban central Halifax ridings experienced more changes to accommodate an additional riding. Most of Halifax Clayton Park becomes the new riding of “Clayton Park West”, while the riding of Halifax Fairview effectively splits into two new ridings: Halifax Armdale and Fairview-Atlantic.  Both of these ridings would have gone NDP had they existed in 2009.
• Growth in the Halifax suburbs have also ensured that that region will also gain a seat, and again this would mean the NDP would’ve won an extra seat in this region in 2009. In this area, just four ridings retain their name: Halifax Atlantic, Sackville-Cobequid, Timberlea-Prospect and Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank. These four ridings saw only minor changes with redistribution. Outside of these ridings, there now exists three ridings where there used to be two. The new riding of Bedford has been carved out of the riding of Bedford-Birch Cove, while the riding of Hammonds Plains-Upper Sackville has been split into two new ridings: Sackville-Beaver Bank and Hammonds Plains-Lucasville. Hammons Plains-Upper Sackville MLA Mat Whynott will be running in Sackville-Beaver Bank, leaving the riding of Hammonds Plains-Lucasville without an incumbent. For the record- both of these new ridings would have gone NDP in 2009.
• Finally, on the Dartmouth-Cole Harbour side of the HRM, there will be no new ridings, but a lot of ridings have been moved about. The area, which is mostly suburban is still growing, but will see no new ridings because one riding- Preston is one of those underpopulated minority ridings (this time representing Nova Scotia’s historic African community) and has to be abolished due to its small size. The Preston riding is expanding to include small parts of the ridings of Dartmouth East and Eastern Shore, and part of the now defunct Cole Harbour riding. The riding will be renamed “Preston-Dartmouth” and retains its Liberal advantage. Outside of this riding, the ridings of Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage, Dartmouth East, Dartmouth North and Eastern Passage all retain their names. The only name changes came as a result of transferring Portland Valley from Dartmouth South-Portland Valley (to become just “Dartmouth South”) to Cole Harbour (which will now be “Cole Harbour-Portland Valley”). Other than this change, only minor changes to the other ridings occurred.

While it is clear the NDP have the advantage on paper thanks to these new boundaries, only time will tell if this will help them on Election Day. The way polls are going for the NDP, they will need more than just the extra two ridings they would have gained thanks to redistribution to win the election in October. However, the way pollsters are low-balling incumbent parties in recent elections across the country, anything can happen. In the coming weeks of the campaign, look to this site for cartographic projections of the polls, as I attempt to map the outcome of the election.