Sterling Belliveau

Sterling William Wallace Belliveau (born August 5, 1953) is a Canadian politician. Belliveau represented the electoral district of Shelburne (now Queens-Shelburne) in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2006-2017 as a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

The Honourable Sterling Belliveau MLA
Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for Queens-Shelburne Shelburne (2006-2013)
In office June 13, 2006 – May 30, 2017
Preceded by	Cecil O'Donnell
Minister of Environment
In office June 19, 2009 – October 22, 2013
Premier	Darrell Dexter
Preceded by	David Morse
Succeeded by	Randy Delorey
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture
In office June 19, 2009 – October 22, 2013
Premier	Darrell Dexter
Preceded by	Ron Chisholm
Succeeded by	Keith Colwell
Personal details
Born	August 5, 1953
Political party	NDP (2006-2020) PC (2020-present)
Residence	Woods Harbour, Nova Scotia
Occupation	fisherman

Early life

Belliveau grew up in Woods Harbour, Nova Scotia and was previously a self-employed fisherman.

Political career

Municipal politics

Belliveau served for three terms as a municipal councillor representing District 1 (Charlesville, Forbes Point and Woods Harbour) on the municipal council for the Municipality of the District of Barrington; two of those terms he served as warden.

Provincial politics

In 2006 Belliveau successfully ran for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party nomination in the constituency of Shelburne. He was elected in the 2006 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Eddie Nickerson by 65 votes.[1][2] He was re-elected in the 2009 provincial election, receiving 55.41% of the votes and increasing his vote to 2,207 over his closest challenger.[3][4] Belliveau's riding was abolished in the 2012 electoral boundary review. Belliveau was re-elected in the 2013 provincial election representing the new riding of Queens-Shelburne where he received 37.1% of the votes with a margin of 381 votes over his closest challenger.

On June 19, 2009 Belliveau was appointed to the Executive Council of Nova Scotia, serving as Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture as well as Minister of Environment.[5] He served in the Executive Council until October 22, 2013.

In June 2016, Belliveau announced that he is not reoffering in the 2017 Nova Scotia general election.[6]

Re-entry into provincial politics

On February 4, 2021 Belliveau announced he was seeking the Progressive Conservative nomination to run in his former seat as MLA in the reorganized constituency of Queens-Shelburne.[7][8] In the previous year, Belliveau had re-entered the public view over the 2020 Mi'kmaq lobster dispute, at the time calling for a one year pause to the Miꞌkmaq moderate livelihood fishery organized by the Sipekneꞌkatik First Nation. Belliveau was quoted as saying, "I can assure you the commercial industry feels they have not had an opportunity to have their voices heard at the table," indicating that he believed Mi'kmaq livelihood fishing affirmed under the The Marshall Decision must be tied to the commercial fishing season.[9] Acknowledging his shift from the NDP to Conservative, Belliveau noted he believed the switch would be more likely to result in a win for him, and stated that he was unhappy with the Federal NDP's stance on the ongoing fisheries issue,[10] which contrary to Belliveau, supports an indigenous moderate livelihood fishery apart from the commercial season.[11]

Personal life

He is married to Luella Jean (Cameron) and they have two adult children and one grandchild.

Electoral record

2013 Nova Scotia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic Party	Sterling Belliveau	3,066	37.10	N/A
	Progressive Conservative	Bruce Inglis	2,685	32.49	N/A
	Liberal	Benson Frail	2,302	27.86	N/A
	Green	Madeline Taylor	211	2.55	N/A

2009 Nova Scotia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic Party	Sterling Belliveau	3844	55.41
	Progressive Conservative	Eddie Nickerson	1637	23.59
	Liberal	Darian Huskilson	1356	19.54
	Green	Robin Smith	101	1.46	–

2006 Nova Scotia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic Party	Sterling Belliveau	2438	36.27
	Progressive Conservative	Eddie Nickerson	2373	35.00
	Liberal	Kirk Cox	1790	26.63
	Green	Derek Jones	141	2.1	–

References

1. "Tightest races: Queens, Hants West, Shelburne". CBC News. June 14, 2006. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
2. "Returns of General Election for the House of Assembly 2006 (Shelburne)" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. 2006. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
3. "Nova Scotia Votes 2009 - Shelburne". CBC. 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
4. "Returns of General Election for the House of Assembly 2009 (Shelburne)" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. 2009. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
5. "Atlantic Canada's 1st NDP government takes office in Nova Scotia". CBC News. June 19, 2009. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
6. "Queens Shelburne MLA Sterling Belliveau announces he won't run again". Queen's County Advance. June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
7. "Belliveau looking to re-enter provincial politics?". southcoasttoday.ca. February 4, 2021. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
8. Paul Withers [@@Witherscbc] (February 4, 2021). "Former Nova Scotia NDP Fisheries Minister Stirling Belliveau is seeking the Progressive Conservative nomination in the provincial riding of Shelburne" (Tweet). Retrieved 2021-02-04 – via Twitter.
9. "Commercial fishermen rally in Digby over Mi'kmaw fishery". CBC News. October 19, 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
10. "Former NDP MLA Sterling Belliveau looking to re-enter N.S. politics for PC party". CBC News. February 5, 2021. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
11. "Lobster Fishery Dispute in Nova Scotia, Emergency Debate". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Canada: CBC News. October 19, 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-05.

External links

• Members of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly