Harold Connolly

Harold Joseph Connolly (September 8, 1901 – May 17, 1980) was a Nova Scotia journalist, newspaper editor, and politician who seved as Liberal Premier in 1954.

Connolly was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia. As a newspaperman he worked for the "Halifax Chronicle" before serving as editor of the "Daily Star". He was first elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in a 1936 byelection as a Liberal in Halifax North, and was appointed to cabinet in 1941. When Premier Angus L. Macdonald died in 1954 Connolly became the province's premier and the Liberal party's interim leader. A Catholic, he was defeated at the party's leadership convention when Protestant delegates formed a united front against a Catholic leader, a move that caused a severe religious split within the party that contributed to its defeat two years later at the hands of Robert Stanfield's Progressive Conservatives. Connolly retired from provincial politics in 1955 when he was elevated to the Canadian Senate in which he served until 1979.

Connolly's daughter Sharon Carstairs has gone on to have a prominent political career as leader of the Manitoba Liberal party and is currently a Liberal Senator.