The district was created in 1966 from
Antigonish—Guysborough (with part of Guysborough added to Central Nova, while Antigonish County and a portion of Guysborough were placed with the Cape Breton Highlands Canso riding), In 1976, it gained some territory in Halifax County (eastern central portion), and it lost its territory in Colchester County. In 1987, it lost most of Guysborough County except for the most extreme western point, and gained all of central and central western Halifax County. In 1996, it was merged into
Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, and
Sackville—Eastern Shore. The electoral district was re-created in 2003: 93.3% of the
riding came from
Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough riding, and 6.7% came from
Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore. In the
2004 election,
Conservative Party candidate
Peter MacKay, who had represented Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, was returned to the House of Commons from Central Nova. He was re-elected in the
2006 election.
Green Party leader
Elizabeth May contested the seat in the
2008 federal election. In a move that startled political observers,
Liberal leader
Stéphane Dion announced on April 13, 2007, that his party would not contest the seat in order to give May a better chance of winning, a move that marked the first time in decades that the Liberals did not field a full slate of candidates in a general election. In return, the Greens (who also fielded a full slate in the last election) did not contest
Dion's Montreal riding. After coming in second to Peter MacKay, May announced she would not run in Central Nova in the
next federal election. Its new boundaries, determined during
2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution, have been legally defined in the 2013 representation order. The new boundaries encompass most of the pre-2012 riding as well as a portion of Nova Scotia represented in the current electoral districts of
Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley and
Sackville—Eastern Shore. It lost 9% of its previous territory to
Cape Breton—Canso, territory that, for decades prior to this, had already been part of
Cape Breton Highlands Canso. Following the
2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution, the riding lost the remainder of
Antigonish County to
Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish and gained
Lawrencetown,
Porters Lake and
Chezzetcook from
Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook. These changes will came into effect upon the calling of the
2025 Canadian federal election. ==Members of Parliament==