Get to know: Halifax Armdale

Three candidates will be battling for Halifax Armdale on Tuesday, a riding that’s only ever been held by the Liberals and NDP. 

Ali Duale from the Nova Scotia Liberal Party is the incumbent, having been elected to office in 2021. 

Rod Wilson is the NDP candidate and Craig Myra is running for the Progressive Conservatives. 

The riding stretches from Highway 2 in the north to the neighbourhood of Cowie Hill in the south and encompasses parts of Halifax’s West End and Armdale districts. It was created in 1992 and was held by the NDP until 2013, when it went to the Liberals, who have held the riding since. 

The riding is primarily residential, made up of the neighbourhoods of Cowie Hill, Melville Cove, Fairmount, Armdale, and the Western portion of the West End. It spans various socioeconomic levels, from the lower-income neighbourhoods of Fairmount and Cowie Hill to more affluent homes along the Northwest Arm. 

The riding had 14,266 eligible voters in the previous provincial election. Voters cast 7,634 votes, representing a 54 per cent turnout. 

With the provincial election on Tuesday, The Signal talked to the three candidates for Halifax Armdale to find out more about their promises for the riding.

Ali Duale (Liberal Party – Incumbent)

Ali Duale arrived in Canada in the late-‘90s, after spending seven years in a refugee camp, having fled the civil war in his home country of Somalia with his wife. He’s worked as a firefighter for the Halifax regional fire department and as the department’s diversity and community liaison officer. A father of eight, he’s advocated for youth programming and a mosque for his community. 

Duale told The Signal he thinks traffic is the biggest issue in Halifax Armdale. 

“People used to love this neighbourhood,” he said. “It’s the middle of the city. You go one place to another place 15, 20 minutes — it’s not going to happen today. You’re going to sit in your car 45 minutes.” 

He said he was committed to advocating for solutions to the issue, pointing to the Liberal Party’s promise to make public transit free for all Nova Scotians as a way to cut down private vehicle traffic. He also said he would make sure traffic laws are enforced. The Liberals, he added, are planning to allow provincial employees to work from home, which would get more people off the roads. 

“We’re listening to the constituency, where they see the solution, where they see other venues where we can tackle this issue,” he said. 

Duale said he was proud of his work during his time as MLA to get a new school in the district to replace the John W. MacLeod – Fleming Tower School. 

Duale was also a member of the committee that developed the Dismantling Racism and Hate Act, which was passed in 2022.

Rod Wilson (NDP)

Rod Wilson says the biggest issue he sees in Halifax Armdale is health care, both in immediate care and in the social determinants of health. 

“So housing, cost of food, cost of living — I mean, it really boils down to you’re not going to be healthy if you don’t have a safe place to live, if you don’t have food security,” he said. 

He acknowledged the different needs of people within the riding. 

“It’s big. And quite diverse in terms of people and socioeconomic situations,” he said. Some people are managing OK in the economy, however “lots of people have lots of concerns around their wellbeing, and their future.” 

A medical doctor, Wilson has been working in health care for 33 years, first as a nurse and then as a physician. He’s spent the last 27 of those years in Halifax.  

In that time, he’s worked as a practitioner, for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, at the Department of Health and as an HR planner. He says this experience has given him “frontline experience, system-level experience, and I think an opportunity to advocate for better.” 

“We’re constantly being told things are getting better, this is happening, this is happening, this is happening, but people, and my colleagues and nurses in medicine, know it’s not getting better. And so we need to stop the marketing and own the issue and deal with it.”

Craig Myra (Progressive Conservative Party)

Myra, a principal of 13 years with the Halifax Regional Centre of Education, grew up in the riding and said he doesn’t think just one issue is most important to his constituents. 

In a written statement, he said he’s found voters to be worried about many things, from traffic to affordable housing to coastal protection. 

He said his main strategy to solve these diverse issues is “continuing to listen and act as an advocate for the people I serve. I will commit to working with anyone I can to find solutions that make sense for my constituency.” 

“I cannot make promises,” he stated. “The only promise I will make is that I will work hard for the people of Halifax Armdale.” 

He said he isn’t worried that the riding has never elected a PC candidate and encouraged everyone to get out and vote, no matter who for. 

“You have three great candidates, if I am the one you want to put your faith in, thank you, I will not let you down.”