Leader of the Opposition (Nova Scotia)

The leader of the Opposition (French: Chef de l'Opposition) in Nova Scotia is the MLA in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly who leads the political party recognized as the Official Opposition. This status generally goes to the leader of the second largest party in the Legislative Assembly. Claudia Chender, the leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party, is the current leader of the opposition.

Since 1928, when its upper house, the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia was abolished, the province has had a unicameral parliamentary government. From Confederation, however, Nova Scotia has exclusively followed the modern Westminster convention whereby the leader of the opposition is the leader of the party that controls the second most seats in the House of Assembly.

Leaders of the opposition of the colony of Nova Scotia (1847–1866)

	Picture	Name	Party	Term
		James W. Johnston	Conservative	1848–1857
		William Young	Liberal	1857–1860
		James W. Johnston	Conservative	1860–1864
		A.G. Archibald	Liberal	1864–1867

Leaders of the opposition of the Province of Nova Scotia, since Confederation (1867–present)

	Picture	Name	Party	Term
		Hiram Blanchard	Liberal Conservative	1867–1874
		Simon H. Holmes	Conservative	1875–1878
		N/A	Liberal	1879–1882
		Adam C. Bell	Liberal Conservative	1883–1886
		William McKay	Liberal Conservative	1887–1890
		C.H. Cahan	Liberal Conservative	1891–1894
		William McKay	Liberal Conservative	1895–1897
		Charles S. Wilcox	Liberal Conservative	1898–1901
		Charles E. Tanner	Liberal Conservative	1902–1908
		Charles S. Wilcox	Liberal Conservative	1909
		John M. Baillie	Liberal Conservative	1910–1911
		Charles E. Tanner	Liberal Conservative	1912–1916
		W.L. Hall	Liberal Conservative	1917–1920
		Daniel G. McKenzie	United Farmers/Labour	1921–1925
		William Chisholm	Liberal	1926–1930
		Alexander S. MacMillan	Liberal	1931–1933
		Gordon S. Harrington	Conservative	1934–1937
		Percy C. Black	Conservative	1938–1939
		Fred M. Blois	Conservative	1940
		Leonard W. Fraser	Conservative	1941
		Fred M. Blois	Conservative	1942–1945
		Russell Cunningham	CCF	1946–1949
		Robert L. Stanfield	Progressive Conservative	1950–1956
		Henry D. Hicks	Liberal	1957–1960
		Earl W. Urquhart	Liberal	1961–1963
		Peter M. Nicholson	Liberal	1964–1967
		Gerald A. Regan	Liberal	1968–1970
		George I. Smith	Progressive Conservative	1970–1971
		John Buchanan	Progressive Conservative	1971–1978
		Gerald A. Regan	Liberal	1978–1979
		Benoit Comeau	Liberal	1980
		A.M. (Sandy) Cameron	Liberal	1980–1984
		Vincent MacLean	Liberal	1985
		Bill Gillis	Liberal	1985–1986
		Vincent MacLean	Liberal	1986–1992
		Bill Gillis	Liberal	1992–1993
		Terrence Donahoe	Progressive Conservative	1993–1995
		John Hamm	Progressive Conservative	1995–1998
		Robert Chisholm	New Democratic Party	1998–1999
		Robert Chisholm (NDP), Russell MacLellan (Liberal), Wayne Gaudet (Liberal)	Duties shared between Liberals and NDP	1999–2001
		John MacDonell	New Democratic Party	2001
		Darrell Dexter	New Democratic Party	2001–2009
		Stephen McNeil	Liberal	2009–2013
		Jamie Baillie	Progressive Conservative	2013–2018
		Karla MacFarlane	Progressive Conservative	2018
		Tim Houston	Progressive Conservative	2018–2021
		Iain Rankin	Liberal	2021–2022
		Zach Churchill	Liberal	2022–2024
		Claudia Chender	New Democratic Party	2024–present