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Claudia Chender

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Claudia Chender
MLA
Chender in 2023
Leader of the Opposition in Nova Scotia
Incumbent
Assumed office
December 10, 2024
Preceded byZach Churchill
Leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
June 25, 2022
Preceded byGary Burrill
Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
for Dartmouth South
Incumbent
Assumed office
May 30, 2017
Preceded byMarian Mancini
Personal details
Born (1976-07-29) July 29, 1976 (age 48)
New York City, U.S.[1]
Political partyNew Democratic Party
SpouseJamie MacLellan
Children3
Residence(s)Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
OccupationLawyer

Claudia Chender (born July 29, 1976)[2] is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has been serving as the leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party since June 25, 2022. She was first elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in the 2017 general election, representing the electoral district of Dartmouth South.[3] She became Nova Scotia's first female leader of the Opposition on a permanent basis, after her party won the second most seats in the 2024 general election.[4]

Early life and education

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Chender is a lawyer by training and has worked in the not for profit and private sectors. Three of Chender's grandparents were Holocaust survivors and she was taught about the Holocaust by her Polish-Jewish grandmother. Many of her relatives died in the Holocaust, including some at Auschwitz.[5][6] She graduated from Dalhousie University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts and then from the University of Victoria in 2004 with a Bachelor of Laws. She lives in Dartmouth South with her husband and three children.

Leader of the NSNDP

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After the 2021 Nova Scotia general election, provincial NDP leader Gary Burrill re-appointed Chender as the party's House Leader,[7] a role she had held since 2018.[8] She returned to her role as the spokesperson for Justice and Status of Women as well as the critic for Economic Development and Natural Resources and Renewables.[7]

On November 9, 2021, Burrill announced that he would resign as leader once a successor was chosen at a future convention.[9] On February 14, 2022, Chender declared her candidacy to replace Burrill as leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (NSNDP).[10] On May 21, 2022 registration closed for the leadership race, with Chender being the sole candidate.[11]

Chender was elected leader of the Nova Scotia NDP after a general membership vote on June 25, 2022.[12][13] She is the third female leader of the NSNDP, following Alexa McDonough and Helen MacDonald; fourth leader, if interim leader Maureen MacDonald is included.[14] Aside from her responsibilities as leader of the third party, Chender also serves as the NDP caucus spokesperson for Intergovernmental Relations (as of September 22, 2024).

Chender has introduced a number of bills in the Nova Scotia Legislature around affordable housing, reducing poverty, energy efficiency, and lowering grocery bills and child care costs.[15] She successfully advocated for the indexing of Income Assistance Rates,[16] the expansion of the province’s Down Payment Assistance Program,[17][18] and banning waitlist fees for daycare.[19][20]

In October 2023, Chender was removed from the legislature after challenging Education Minister Becky Druhan’s statement that every student in Nova Scotia had access to food in schools.[21] The government later launched a “pay-what-you-can” school food program.[22]

On September 12, 2024, the legislature passed Chender's bill declaring domestic violence an epidemic with all-party support.[23] The bill legislated a recommendation from the Mass Casualty Commission, which investigated the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks.[24]

Electoral record

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2024 Nova Scotia general election: Dartmouth South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
New Democratic Claudia Chender 4,415 68.5%
Progressive Conservative Bea MacGregor 1,449 30.7%
Liberal Barb Henderson 585 9.1%
Total valid votes
Total rejected ballots
Turnout 6,449
Eligible voters
New Democratic hold Swing
Source: Elections Nova Scotia[25]
2021 Nova Scotia general election: Dartmouth South
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
New Democratic Claudia Chender 4,209 58.13 +18.48 $56,622.56
Liberal Lesley MacKay 1,603 22.14 -15.31 $18,386.71
Progressive Conservative Chris Curtis 1,262 17.43 +1.57 $31,677.39
Green Skylar Martini 167 2.31 -3.35 $200.00
Total valid votes/expense limit 7,241 99.64 – $80,768.46
Total rejected ballots 26 0.36
Turnout 7,267 52.96
Eligible voters 13,721
New Democratic hold Swing +16.90
Source: Elections Nova Scotia[26]
2017 Nova Scotia general election: Dartmouth South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
New Democratic Claudia Chender 3,545 39.65% +4.40
Liberal Vishal Bhardwaj 3,348 37.45% +3.46
Progressive Conservative Jad Crnogorac 1,418 15.86% -7.30
Green June Trenholm 506 5.66%
Atlantica Jim Murray 123 1.38%
Total valid votes 9,007 99.26
Total rejected ballots 67 0.74
Turnout 9,074 51.56
Eligible voters 17,598
New Democratic hold Swing +0.47
Source: Elections Nova Scotia[27][28]

References

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  1. ^ "MacPolitics: In Conversation with NDP's Claudia Chender". The MacDonald Notebook. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  2. ^ The Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia: a biographical directory from 1984 to the Present: Chender, Claudia, page 41 Nova Scotia Legislature
  3. ^ "Nova Scotia election: NDP Claudia Chender elected in Dartmouth South riding". Global News, May 30, 2017.
  4. ^ "Speaker of House of Assembly Chosen". News Releases. Government of Nova Scotia, House of Assembly. December 10, 2024. Archived from the original on January 11, 2025.
  5. ^ "Nova Scotia MLA whose grandparents fled Holocaust condemns Nazi graffiti". Canadian Broadcasting Company. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  6. ^ "Tweets". Twitter. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Cooke, Alex (September 8, 2021). "Nova Scotia NDP leader Gary Burrill announces new caucus roles". Global News. Halifax, Nova Scotia. Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  8. ^ "Claudia Chender". Nova Scotia Legislature. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  9. ^ Doucette, Keith (November 9, 2021). "Nova Scotia NDP Leader Gary Burrill to step down once party chooses successor". CTV News. Halfax, Nova Scotia. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  10. ^ Renić, Karla (February 14, 2022). "Claudia Chender announces her bid for leadership of Nova Scotia NDP Party". Global News. Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  11. ^ The Canadian Press (May 21, 2022). "Claudia Chender sole candidate running as leader of Nova Scotia's NDP". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on May 23, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  12. ^ Ramesar, Vernon (May 21, 2022). "Claudia Chender unopposed in run for Nova Scotia NDP leadership". CBC News. Archived from the original on May 23, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  13. ^ Fairclough, Ian (June 25, 2022). "Chender comes out swinging in first speech as Nova Scotia's NDP leader". The Chronicle Herald. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  14. ^ Doucette, Keith (June 25, 2022). "Nova Scotia NDP officially confirms Claudia Chender as new party leader". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  15. ^ "Claudia Chender". Nova Scotia Legislature. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  16. ^ Gorman, Michael (March 27, 2024). "N.S. government announces plans to index income assistance to inflation rate". CBC. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  17. ^ "NSNDP Homes Within Reach would combat housing costs, cost-of-living crisis". Nova Scotia NDP. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  18. ^ "Enhancements to Down Payment Assistance Program | Government of Nova Scotia News Releases". news.novascotia.ca. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  19. ^ Grant, Taryn (October 15, 2023). "Nova Scotia to review daycares' use of waitlist fees". CBC. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  20. ^ Grant, Taryn (February 22, 2024). "Nova Scotia banning daycare waitlist fees". CBC. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  21. ^ Munro, Nicole (October 13, 2023). "N.S. NDP Leader Claudia Chender kicked out of legislature after school food remarks". Saltwire. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  22. ^ Jerrett, Andrea (September 20, 2024). "Some N.S. families can now order school lunches under new pay-what-you-can program". CTV News. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  23. ^ Doucette, Keith (September 12, 2024). "Nova Scotia adopts bill declaring domestic violence in the province an epidemic". The Canadian Press. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  24. ^ https://masscasualtycommission.ca/files/documents/Turning-the-Tide-Together-List-of-Recommendations.pdf
  25. ^ https://globalnews.ca/news/10865517/nova-scotia-election-2024-dartmouth-south/
  26. ^ "Provincial General Election 2021-08-17- Official Results". Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  27. ^ "Statement of Votes & Statistics, Volume I" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  28. ^ "May 30th, 2017 - 40th Nova Scotia Provincial General Election". Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
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