Clare (electoral district)

Clare
Nova Scotia electoral district
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Nova Scotia House of Assembly
MLA	Ronnie LeBlanc; Liberal
;
District created	1949, 2019
District abolished	2013
Last contested	2021
Demographics
Population (2011)	8,307
Electors	6,905
Area (km²)	830
Pop. density (per km²)	10
Census division(s)	Digby County
Census subdivision(s)	Municipality of the District of Clare

Clare is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada which existed between 1949-2013 and since 2021. Prior to 1949, Clare was part of Digby district. It elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The electoral district includes most of the Municipality of the District of Clare, an Acadian area occupying the southwestern half of Digby County. For four consecutive elections from 1988 to 1999, the district had the highest voter turnout in the province.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

The electoral district was abolished following the 2012 electoral boundary review and was largely replaced by the new electoral district of Clare-Digby. It was re-created our of Clare-Digby following the 2019 Electoral Boundary Review.

Geography

The land area of Clare is 830 km² (320 sq mi).^[5]

Members of the Legislative Assembly

The electoral district was represented by the following Members of the Legislative Assembly:

Legislature	Years		Party
64th	2021-	Ronnie LeBlanc	Liberal
Riding recreated from parts of Clare-Digby
Riding dissolved
61st	2009–2013	Wayne Gaudet	Liberal
60th	2006-2009
59th	2003-2006
58th	1999-2003
57th	1998-1999
56th	1993-1998
55th	1988-1993	Guy LeBlanc	Progressive Conservative
54th	1984-1988	Guy LeBlanc	Progressive Conservative
53rd	1981-1984	Chester Melanson	Liberal
52nd	1978-1981	Benoit Comeau	Liberal
51st	1974-1978
50th	1970-1974
49th	1967-1970
48th	1963-1967	Hector J. Pothier	Progressive Conservative
47th	1960-1963	Pierre E. Belliveau	Liberal
46th	1956-1960
45th	1953-1956
44th	1949-1953	Desire J. Comeau	Progressive Conservative

Election results

1949 general election

1949 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal–Conservative	Desire J. Comeau	2,116	50.45%	–
	Liberal	Benoit Comeau	2,078	49.55%	–
Total			4,194	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1953 general election

1953 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Pierre E. Belliveau	2,307	58.46%	8.92%
	Progressive Conservative	Desire J. Comeau	1,639	41.54%	–
Total			3,946	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1956 general election

1956 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Pierre E. Belliveau	2,046	52.60%	-5.87%
	Progressive Conservative	J. Fred Gaudet	1,844	47.40%	5.87%
Total			3,890	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1960 general election

1960 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Pierre E. Belliveau	2,215	52.13%	-0.47%
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Weaver	2,034	47.87%	0.47%
Total			4,249	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1963 general election

1963 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Hector J. Pothier	2,154	52.61%	4.74%
	Liberal	Joseph C. LeBlanc	1,940	47.39%	-4.74%
Total			4,094	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1967 general election

1967 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Benoit Comeau	2,384	56.43%	9.04%
	Progressive Conservative	Hector J. Pothier	1,841	43.57%	-9.04%
Total			4,225	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1970 general election

1970 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Benoit Comeau	2,712	59.67%	3.24%
	Progressive Conservative	Paul J. Comeau	1,833	40.33%	-3.24%
Total			4,545	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1974 general election

1974 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Benoit Comeau	2,959	61.07%	1.40%
	Progressive Conservative	Vincent L. Doucet	1,218	25.14%	-15.19%
	New Democratic	Jean L. Belliveau	668	13.79%	–
Total			4,845	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1978 general election

1978 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Benoit Comeau	2,963	56.47%	-4.60%
	Progressive Conservative	Gerald J. B. Comeau	1,896	36.13%	11.00%
	New Democratic	Sylvio Gagnon	388	7.39%	-6.39%
Total			5,247	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1981 general election

1981 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Chester Melanson	2,228	38.96%	-17.51%
	Progressive Conservative	Guy LeBlanc	2,173	38.00%	1.87%
	New Democratic	Paul Dennis Comeau	1,317	23.03%	15.64%
Total			5,718	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1984 general election

1984 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Guy LeBlanc	3,094	50.33%	12.33%
	Liberal	Chester Melanson	2,784	45.29%	6.33%
	New Democratic	Alain Chabot	269	4.38%	-18.66%
Total			6,147	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1988 general election

1988 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Guy LeBlanc	3,587	54.02%	3.69%
	Liberal	Nadine Boudreau	2,773	41.76%	-3.53%
	New Democratic	Jan Slakov-Crombie	280	4.22%	-0.16%
Total			6,640	–
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1993 general election

1993 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wayne Gaudet	3,461	51.99%	10.23%
	Progressive Conservative	Guy LeBlanc	2,854	42.87%	-11.15%
	New Democratic	Christian Collin	342	5.14%	0.92%
Total			6,657	–
Total rejected ballots			83
Turnout			6,740	91.44
Eligible voters			7,371
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1998 general election

1998 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wayne Gaudet	2,950	47.28%	-4.71%
	Progressive Conservative	Guy LeBlanc	2,578	41.32%	-1.55%
	New Democratic	Vanessa Paddock	711	11.40%	6.26%
Total			6,239	–
Total rejected ballots			109
Turnout			6,348	88.00
Eligible voters			7,214
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

1999 general election

1999 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wayne Gaudet	2,705	43.76%	-3.52%
	Progressive Conservative	Paul Comeau	2,355	38.10%	-3.22%
	New Democratic	Don Melanson	1,078	17.44%	6.04%
	Nova Scotia Party	Anne Marie Boyer	43	0.70%	–
Total			6,181	–
Total rejected ballots			66
Turnout			6,247	87.43
Eligible voters			7,145
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

2003 general election

2003 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wayne Gaudet	3,547	61.55%	17.78%
	Progressive Conservative	Marc Boudreau	1,456	25.26%	-12.84%
	New Democratic	Don Melanson	760	13.19%	-4.25%
Total			5,763	–
Total rejected ballots			70
Turnout			5,833	89.68
Eligible voters			6,504
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

2006 general election

2006 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wayne Gaudet	2,803	48.53%	-13.02%
	Progressive Conservative	Abraham LeBlanc	1,622	28.08%	2.82%
	New Democratic	Paul Comeau	1,269	21.97%	8.78%
	Green	Diane Doucet-Bean	82	1.42%	–
Total			5,776	–
Total rejected ballots			50
Turnout			5,826	82.45
Eligible voters			7,066
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

2009 general election

2009 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wayne Gaudet	3,392	64.68%	16.16%
	New Democratic	Paul Comeau	1,326	25.29%	3.32%
	Progressive Conservative	Jimmy Doucet	459	8.75%	-19.33%
	Green	Diane Doucet-Bean	67	1.28%	-0.14%
Total			5,244	–
Total rejected ballots			53
Turnout			5,297	76.71
Eligible voters			6,905
Source(s) Source: Nova Scotia Legislature (2021). "Electoral History for Clare" (PDF). nslegislature.ca.

2017 general election (transposed)

2017 provincial election redistributed results^[6]
Party		Vote	%
	Liberal	2,059	51.23
	Progressive Conservative	1,218	30.31
	New Democratic	742	18.46

2021 general election

2021 Nova Scotia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ronnie LeBlanc	2,322	49.89	-1.34
	Progressive Conservative	Carl Deveau	2,021	43.43	+13.12
	Green	Claire McDonald	158	3.39
	New Democratic	Cameron Pye	153	3.29	-15.17
Total valid votes			4,654	99.15
Total rejected ballots			40	0.85
Turnout			4,694	67.84
Eligible voters			6,919
	Liberal hold		Swing		-7.23
Source: Elections Nova Scotia^[7]

References

^ Recapitulation 1988 Election Elections Nova Scotia
^ Recapitulation 1993 Election Elections Nova Scotia
^ Recapitulation 1998 Election Elections Nova Scotia
^ Recapitulation 1999 Election Elections Nova Scotia
^ "Find Your Electoral District for the 41st Provincial General Election". enstools.electionsnovascotia.ca. Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
^ Transposition of Votes from the 2017 Provincial General Election to 2019 Electoral District Boundaries
^ "Provincial General Election 2021-08-17- Official Results". Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved October 7, 2021.

External links

[1] Recapitulation 1988 Election Elections Nova Scotia

[2] Recapitulation 1993 Election Elections Nova Scotia

[3] Recapitulation 1998 Election Elections Nova Scotia

[4] Recapitulation 1999 Election Elections Nova Scotia

[5] "Find Your Electoral District for the 41st Provincial General Election". enstools.electionsnovascotia.ca. Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

[6] Transposition of Votes from the 2017 Provincial General Election to 2019 Electoral District Boundaries

[7] "Provincial General Election 2021-08-17- Official Results". Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved October 7, 2021.

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