Chester Joseph Melanson (born June 26, 1940) is a Canadian politician. He represented the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (; ), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia, and together with the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia makes up the Nova Scotia Legislature. The assembly is ...

from 1981 to 1984 as a member of the

Nova Scotia Liberal Party The Nova Scotia Liberal Party (officially the Liberal Association of Nova Scotia) is a Centrist politics, centrist provincial political party in Nova Scotia, Canada and the provincial section of the Liberal Party of Canada. The party currently hol ...

. Melanson was born in 1940 at Meteghan Centre,

Digby County Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History It was named after the Township of Digby; this was named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby, who dispatched HMS ''Atalanta'' to convey Loyalists from New York City in ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. A graduate of the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...

, Melanson was an athletic director. He entered provincial politics in the 1981 election, defeating Progressive Conservative

Guy LeBlanc Guy LeBlanc was a politician from Quebec, Canada, who was Mayor of Trois-Rivières from 1990 to 2001. Background He was born around 1947 and is a notary. City Councillor He was elected to the Trois-Rivières City Council in 1982 and was re-ele ...

by 55 votes in the Clare riding. Melanson was defeated by LeBlanc when he ran for re-election in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. In October 2008, Melanson was awarded the

Order of La Pléiade The Order of La Pléiade (; ) is an honorary order of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. It recognizes people who particularly distinguished themselves in the service of its ideals of cooperation and friendship, promoting the rol ...

, which was given to honour Acadian and Francophone community leaders, and Members of the Legislative Assembly.

References

1940 births Living people Nova Scotia Liberal Party MLAs People from Digby County, Nova Scotia University of New Brunswick alumni 20th-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly {{Liberal-NovaScotia-MLA-stub