Diana Whalen, MLA for Halifax Clayton Park has held elected office since 2000 when she won a seat on HRM council representing the Clayton Park West and Rockingham. In 2003 she again unseated an incumbent and become the MLA for the new seat of Halifax Clayton Park.
Even before that, though, Diana had been taking on tough battles as a volunteer in her community. After moving to Clayton Park in 1990, Diana was involved in community organizations dedicated to improving services in the fast-growing area. In the late 1990s she founded a community action group dedicated to seeing a new school built in Clayton Park West and in 2000 Park West School was completed. 
As Councilor, she worked with the community and municipal and provincial staff to achieve a plan for the replacement – and not just a temporary ‘fix’ – of the old and inadequate Halifax West High School. She also formed the first local Mainland North Recreation Centre Committee to highlight the need to replace Northcliffe Pool.
Since 2003, she has been a strong advocate for her constituents, as MLA for Halifax Clayton Park. She championed the fight to preserve the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area, which culminated in the province protecting over 3000 acres of wilderness in the area beside Bayers Lake Business Park (April 2009). The fast growing area needed improved recreation, and Diana has worked with the people of her riding to is lobby HRM and advocate at the provincial level for a world-class recreation centre on the Mainland Common. The opening of the Canada Games Centre (November 2010) is the realization of that effort.
In 2009, Diana was honoured by the Cornwallis Progress Club with a Women of Distinction Award in the category of Public Affairs and Communications for her work in the community.

In the Legislature, Diana has an impressive track record as a critic and advocate. She has been critic in the key areas of Finance, Education, Immigration, Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations, and the Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Since 2009 she has served as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, which is an important accountability committee. She has introduced numerous private members bills on issues ranging from education and environment to child safety and public finance. She is particularly proud of her bill which made NS the second province in Canada to make booster seats mandatory for children under 9 years of age (2005). Diana continues to call for a statutory February holiday to improve the quality of life in our province.

Diana is a graduate of Dalhousie University with Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees and is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA). Prior to entering politics she had a successful career as a management consultant with a major international firm and she also worked with a local consulting engineering firm where she ran their business consulting practice. She lived and worked in the Republic of Korea, Australia and Jamaica before returning to NS to raise her two children. Living overseas has helped her appreciate the challenges faced by the many new Canadians in her riding of Clayton Park.