page_title: 2012 New Democratic Party leadership election
section_title: Robert Chisholm
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 New Democratic Party leadership election / Candidates / Withdrawn candidacies / Robert Chisholm
caption_attribution_description: English: Robert Chisholm, NDP MP for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour and former leadership candidate, at the 2012 leadership convention in Toronto.This is a cropped version of the original photograph.The title of the original photograph at the source is: Robert Chisholm and Romeo Saganash.
context_page_description: An election for the leadership of the New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada, was called for March 24, 2012, in order to elect a permanent successor to Jack Layton who had died the previous summer.
  The New Democratic Party's executive and caucus set the rules for the campaign at a series of meetings in September 2011. The election took place in Toronto and on the Internet. At the Leadership Convention, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Thomas Mulcair was declared to be the new leader of the party. The convention was to be held at Exhibition Place's Allstream Centre, but it was moved to the larger venue due to a greater than expected number of delegates registering for the event.
  The vote was open to all NDP members in a combination of exhaustive ballot and instant-runoff voting with one member, one vote; each member voted by preferential ballot in advance, or with a single ballot for each round on the day of the election. The entrance fee was set at $15,000 and each candidate's spending limit was capped at $500,000.
  Mulcair was the NDP's seventh leader elected since its founding in 1961.
context_section_description: Background
  Robert Chisholm was the MP for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was first elected federally during the 2011 election, and until he announced his candidacy, was the Official Opposition's Critic for International Trade, ACOA and the Atlantic Gateway. Prior to federal politics, he was the Leader of the Nova Scotia NDP from 1996 to 2000. In 1998, he led the NDP to official opposition, the first time since the party's predecessor Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) accomplished that feat in the 1940s under Donald MacDonald. Chisholm was a former Atlantic Regional Director for Canadian Union of Public Employees.  He does not speak fluent French, although he enrolled in a French immersion course. He announced his candidacy at a press conference in Halifax, on October 30.
  Chisholm withdrew his candidacy on December 21, 2011, citing his lack of fluency in French, and on February 29, 2012, endorsed Thomas Mulcair for leadership.
  Date campaign launched: October 30, 2011
  Date candidacy withdrawn:  December 21, 2011
  Campaign website: robert2012.ca
  Endorsements
  MP: (1) Ryan Cleary, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
  Current/former provincial NDP leaders: (2) Darrell Dexter, Premier of Nova Scotia; Howard Hampton, former leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party.
  Provincial legislators: (9) Graham Steele, NS MLA, Dave Wilson, NS MLA, Maureen MacDonald, NS MLA, John MacDonnell, NS MLA, Marilyn More, NS MLA, Bill Estabrooks, NS MLA, Becky Kent, NS MLA, Mat Whynott, NS MLA, Sid Prest, NS MLA
caption: Robert Chisholm
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