Lena Metlege Diab was elected as the Member of Parliament for Halifax West on September 20, 2021. She is the first female MP to represent the riding.

Lena is the daughter of Lebanese immigrants to Canada and the eldest of six children. Born in Halifax, she lived in Diman, a small tight-knit Lebanese village, from the age of two, fleeing war at the age of 11 and returning to her family home in Halifax. Though she didn’t speak English at the time, she applied herself in school and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science, a Master of Public Administration, and a law degree. She also had three of her children while attending law school and articling.

Prior to entering politics, Lena was a lawyer and small business owner for over 20 years. She balanced a busy family life with volunteering with her church, within her community, and with her children’s soccer club. She served as President of the Canadian Lebanon Society of Halifax, and has received numerous honours and accolades for her community work, including Queen’s Counsel.

Lena matches her passion and determination with work ethic. She is, by nature, a doer. Her personal values are rooted in respect for diversity, inclusion, collaboration, and fairness. She takes the importance of history, tradition, and protection of minority communities very seriously, as she does the ethos of personal and collective responsibility and recognition of the hard work and sacrifices of others.

Ahead of the 2013 provincial election in Nova Scotia, Lena knew she wanted to get involved. Conversations with her children kept circling back to a common theme: their peers were leaving Nova Scotia for greener pastures. Lena felt called to try to change the province’s trajectory. She worked hard to earn the trust of voters in Halifax Armdale and was elected for the first time as MLA in 2013. From there, Lena’s experience earned her an appointment to the Executive Council of Nova Scotia as the first female Attorney General and Minister of Justice, as well as Minister of Immigration.

Lena worked hard to represent her community and to grow Nova Scotia’s economy and population and in 2017 she was re-elected as MLA, and proudly took on the additional role of Minister of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie. She was later named the chargée de mission for the Région Amerique of l’Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) which complemented her ministerial work and personal interest in forging ties among francophones and francophiles on a broader scale.

In 2020, Lena was entrusted with an additional cabinet responsibility as Minister of Labour and Advanced Education. She recognized the synergies between her departments and jumped into her new work with enthusiasm, working hard to support our students, businesses, job-seekers, and post-secondary institutions during a difficult time.

With that experience, Lena decided to put her name forward to represent her community of Halifax West in Parliament.

She is the proud mother of four children and has four grandchildren.