Nova Scotia Politics 1945-2020
From Macdonald to McNeil
Graham Steele
Pottersfield Press, Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia, Canada
Copyright 2021 Graham Steele
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used or stored in any form or by any means graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any requests for photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems shall be directed in writing to the publisher or to Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (www.AccessCopyright.ca). This also applies to classroom use.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Nova Scotia politics, 1945-2020 : from Macdonald to McNeil / Graham Steele.
Names: Steele, Graham, 1964- author.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200386751 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200386883 | ISBN 9781989725450 (softcover) | ISBN 9781989725467 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Nova ScotiaPolitics and government1867- | LCSH: PoliticiansNova ScotiaBiography. | LCSH: LegislatorsNova ScotiaBiography.
Classification: LCC FC2311 .S74 2021 | DDC 971.6dc23
Cover design: Gail LeBlanc
Pottersfield Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities from the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) and the Canada Council for the Arts, and from the Province of Nova Scotia. We are pleased to work in partnership with the Province of Nova Scotia to develop and promote our creative industries for the benefit of all Nova Scotians.
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Website: www.PottersfieldPress.com
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Printed in Canada
To my mother, who crossed an ocean for love.
Contents
It had been a long day of rancorous debate at the Nova Scotia legislature, and Angus L. Macdonald was tired.
There was slushy snow on the sidewalk of Barrington Street as Macdonald and a few Liberal colleagues trudged towards the Green Lantern, a popular local restaurant. They needed to grab something to eat before the legislature resumed its evening sitting.
Macdonald had his head down, a few steps ahead of the others, lost in thought as he often was. He had been premier of Nova Scotia for more than fifteen years. The last provincial election had seen the usual Liberal majority, but the opposition was getting larger and more confident. Conservative leader Robert Stanfield was young but hardworking and smart and he was nipping at Macdonalds political heels.
Macdonalds reveries were interrupted by his colleagues conversation. Stanfield, snorted one, born with a silver spoon. Hell always do the rich mens bidding. The others snickered.
Macdonald stopped, turned, held up his hand. I dont want to hear that sort of talk again, he said. Stanfield will never do wrong by Nova Scotia. His colleagues hung their heads at the scolding.
Macdonald was overheard by a passerby, who of course recognized the great man and the generosity of his sentiment. It wasnt long before Macdonalds words spread across the city and around the province. The great man had, across party lines, blessed his successor.
* * * * *
Well, thats one version of the story, anyway.
There are many versions. In some, Macdonald says Stanfield will never do wrong by Nova Scotia. In some versions it was said in the legislature, in others it was said on the street. Nobody cites an original source for the quotation, and I have not been able to find one. Dalton Camp says the tale is apocryphal and became truth for its frequent telling.
The story ricocheted around the province in the 1950s, and still lives today, because enough people want it to be true. Like a fairy tale, the story lives because it carries a symbolic message. Former minister Gerry Doucet calls it an anointment. Camp says it created a mystical bond. In a province where the LiberalConservative rivalry drives politics, and where politicians are generally disdained for their empty-headed partisanship, Macdonalds blessing of Stanfield was gloriously noble. Both emerge from the story with a halo. Its political gold.
The only problem is that it probably never happened. Its just a story.
When it comes to political history, we have to be careful what we believe.
* * * * *
I believe politics matters. And more than ever, I believe political history matters.
I am a former politician. I lived politics every day for fifteen years, from 1998 to 2013. I was an eyewitness to the MacLellan, Hamm, Rodney MacDonald, and Dexter governments. As a political analyst for CBC Nova Scotia from 2013 to 2017, I watched the first McNeil government closely. I still watch Nova Scotia politics, though now from a distance.
In the daily grind of politics, it was easy to get lost in the details. Whats on fire today? Studying history helps to lift us out of the daily grind and see what really matters. It helps us to see patterns and hear echoes. It reminds us that politicians of the past faced variations of the same problems we face today, and were just as smart and just as stupid as we are. We can learn from what they did right and try to avoid what they did wrong.
So knowing our political history good political history, and by that I mean accurate political history, factually corect and in its proper context should lead to better choices today. Thats the hope that guided me as I wrote this book. Its also why I chose 1945 as my starting point. The end of the Second World War, and Angus L. Macdonalds triumphant return to Nova Scotia, is far enough back to capture the roots of todays politics, but also close enough to be recognizable to readers today.
To make good choices today, it helps to know how Henry Hicks leadership victory in 1954 split the Liberal party, or why a heavy-water plant sat abandoned on the Glace Bay shore for thirty years, or why the Westray mine blew up in 1992. Our understanding of current events will be stronger if we know how Donald Junior Marshall changed the law forever by fishing for eels in 1993, or why toxic waste started flowing into Boat Harbour in the 1960s and kept running for fifty years, or why construction workers rioted at the legislature in 1994. Were going to have more insight into political fundraising today if we know about the tollgating trials of the 1980s, and well more quickly grasp the risk-aversion of politicians today if we remember the reasons why John Savage resigned in 1997.
Fortunately, there is already lots of good writing on Nova Scotia political history. We have an abundance of talented scholars, writers, and journalists, and this book is suffused with their work. But it has been over thirty years since anyone tried to pull the strands together in one place.
I also hope my perspective as a former politician offers fresh insight. Politics isnt a laundry list of laws passed by the legislature, nor is it a day-by-day account of who said what. Its about power: who has it, how they got it, and what they do with it.
I was especially struck, as I read and wrote, about how much of our political history flowed from the personalities of our leaders. I have some inkling what was going through our politicians heads because I used to be one myself. I have sympathy for their struggles. But all our leaders were flawed, some desperately so. A few rose above their foibles and the fray, and got something done that joined their name to history.
