Harold Joseph Connolly (September 8, 1901-May 17, 1980) was a Nova Scotia journalist and politician who seved as Liberal Premier in 1954.
As a newspaperman, Connolly worked for the Halifax Chronicle before serving as editor of the Daily Star. In 1936 he was elected to the provincial legislature as a Liberal MLA becoming a Cabinet minister in 1941. When Premier Angus L. Macdonald died in 1954 Connolly became the provice'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.
