Darrell Dexter

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Darrell Dexter (2010)

Darrell Dexter (born September 10, 1957 in Halifax , Nova Scotia ) is a Canadian politician and lawyer . He is party leader of the social democratic Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (NDP). From 1998 to 2013 he was a member of the House of Representatives of Nova Scotia , from June 19, 2009 to October 22, 2013, he ruled the province as Prime Minister.

biography

Dexter grew up in Milton as the son of a metalworker. He studied journalism at the University of King's College , Halifax, then law at Dalhousie University . After serving as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy , he worked as a lawyer in Dartmouth . There he was a member of the city council from 1994 to 1996. In March 1998 he was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Representatives and he represented the constituency of Dartmouth-Cole Harbor. He was re-elected four times in a row. After the resignation of Helen MacDonald, he took over the party chairmanship on an interim basis in June 2001. The NDP party congress confirmed him a year later with 62% of the vote.

Under Dexter's leadership, the NDP rose to the second-strongest political force in the province for the first time in its history thanks to four seats won in the elections on August 5, 2003; the ruling progressive conservatives of John Hamm had to be content with a minority government. Hamm's successor Rodney MacDonald lost a vote of no confidence, which led to early elections on June 13, 2006. The NDP added five more seats and narrowed the gap to the progressive conservatives; Dexter repeatedly rejected the offer of the third-placed Liberals to form a coalition government. Another vote of no confidence in MacDonald on May 4, 2009 again led to early elections. On June 9, 2009, the NDP won an absolute majority of the seats for the first time. After he was sworn in on June 19, Dexter led the first social democratic government in the Atlantic provinces of Canada.

Dexter's government brought some reforms through during the legislative period, but it drew popular displeasure. One of the main reasons for this was the broken election promise not to increase VAT. Through accounting measures, the provincial government was able to show a budget surplus for the first time in its first year of office. The following years, however, ended with high deficits, which resulted in numerous unpopular cuts. In the elections on October 8, 2013, the NDP suffered a major defeat. It fell from 31 to 7 seats and was only the third strongest force. Dexter himself lost his parliamentary mandate by a very narrow margin of 21 votes. He carried on the official business for a few days and handed them over to the liberal Stephen McNeil on October 22nd .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dexter holds on to NDP helm: Interim leader makes it official with decisive win over MacDonell. The Daily News. June 3, 2002.
  2. ^ NS voters-elect 1st NDP government. CBC News, June 9, 2009, accessed November 19, 2013 .
  3. ^ Atlantic Canada's 1st NDP government takes office in Nova Scotia. CBC News, June 19, 2009, accessed November 19, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Darrell Dexter toppled in crushing NDP defeat. CBC News, October 8, 2013, accessed November 19, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Dexter, Darrell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Halifax , Nova Scotia