Darrell Elvin Dexter (born 1957) is a Canadian lawyer, journalist and former naval officer who served as the 27th premier of Nova Scotia from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party, he served as party leader from 2001 to 2013. He became Premier in 2009 after his party defeated the governing Progressive Conservative Party, leading the first NDP government in Atlantic Canada and the second east of Manitoba. His government was defeated in the 2013 election, becoming the first Nova Scotia government in 131 years to be denied a second mandate; Dexter himself was defeated in his constituency by 21 votes. Dexter now serves as a lobbyist for the cannabis industry.
Early life Darrell Dexter was born on September 10, 1957,, Canadaeast.com, April 12, 2010 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Elvin, a steel metal worker, and Florence Dexter (née Pace),Who is Premier Darrell Dexter?, The Coast, June 4, 2009 and grew up in the rural community of Milton in Queens County. He was the first member of his family to go to university.
Dexter volunteered for Alexa McDonough in her 1979 federal election campaign. Dexter holds degrees in education and law from Dalhousie University,Dal produces 13th premier , The Sunday Herald, October 25, 2009 and a degree in journalism from the University of King's College. He used his journalism degree for a period as a reporter for The Daily News in the early 1980s. Dexter also served in the Canadian Forces holding the rank of Sub-Lieutenant and was a Combat Information Officer on board and while deployed with Maritime Forces Pacific.
Dexter was a practicing lawyer before he entered public life. He was first elected as a Dartmouth City Councilor, serving from 1994 to 1996.Nova Scotia Votes , The Daily News, October 16, 1994
A former chair and member of the board of the Dartmouth Downtown Development Corporation,It's your last dance, board tells strip bars , The Daily News, November 30, 1993 Dexter was also once a member of the Dartmouth General Hospital Commission, Chair of the Dartmouth Common Committee,Dartmouth bus terminal move crosses hurdle , The Daily News, March 30, 1995 a former member of the board of directors of the Victorian Order of Nurses (Dartmouth Branch), and a member of the Community Planning Association.Ex-alderman seeks nomination , The Daily News, August 16, 1997
In September 2015, Dexter joined Global Public Affairs as vice-chair.
Dexter is married to Kelly Wilson and together they have one son.
Member of the Legislative Assembly
Dexter was elected to the Nova Scotia Legislature as MLA for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour in 1998 and served as critic for Economic Development and Health. He was re-elected in 1999,Dartmouth looks familiar: Most seats unchanged , The Daily News, July 28, 1999 2003,Cole Harbour , "The Chronicle Herald", August 6, 2003 2006NDP Leader Dexter elected in Cole Harbour , "CBC News", June 13, 2006 and 2009.Ceremony set for swearing in Nova Scotia's 1st NDP premier. "CBC News", June 12, 2009.
Provincial leadership
Dexter became the 8th leader of the Nova Scotia NDP in June 2001 when he took over as interim leader after Helen MacDonald stepped down. He ran for the leadership against John MacDonell in 2002 and won with 63% of the vote.
2003 election campaign
In Dexter's first provincial campaign in 2003, the NDP campaign trailed in third place in many polls and was in danger of losing seats. The NDP looked to consolidate its strong support in the Metro Halifax area, and make gains in the conservative rural mainland and Cape Breton.
Dexter campaigned to form Crown Corporation for car insurance to lower premiums by 50%, paying for health coverage in nursing homes, reducing waiting lists for surgeries and diagnostic tests, removing the provincial portion of the HST on home heating oil, increase classroom resources for public schools, freezing tuition fees for Nova Scotia universities for a year while introducing a student debt relief plan, and maintaining balanced budgets.
On election night, Dexter and the NDP did make small gains in the popular vote and won four more seats, including two in Dartmouth, one in Cape Breton and one in Pictou County, and the PC government of John Hamm was reduced to a minority.
2006 election campaign
The MacDonald Government called an election for June 13, 2006, and Dexter was once again the NDP's candidate for Premier. At the outset, most pollsters had the NDP at the same level of support it had in 2003, roughly 30% and behind the Tories in second place. Dexter campaigned on a platform to improve services for seniors, lowering the cost of heating oil for homes, a 10% cut in post-secondary education tuition, subsidized child care and public auto insurance.
Dexter performance in the leaders' debate was improved in the eyes of many pundits. The NDP was returned once again as the official opposition, but did make major gains on election night. The party gained five seats for a total of 20, the best performance in its history. Dexter also was comfortably re-elected in his own seat of Cole Harbour with 59.5% of the vote. The NDP increased its share of the popular vote to 34.5%, a rise of 4 percentage points. The NDP also won seats in the South Shore region, where it had not performed well in previous elections, specifically in Shelburne and Queens.
Opposition Leader
Dexter was Opposition Leader to both premier John Hamm and Rodney MacDonald of the PCs. He credited his ability to work with Hamm to get things done as the reason for the NDP increase in seats in the 2006 election.
Within a few months of the 2006 election, the NDP took a lead in opinion polls, which it held consistently until the 2009 election.
2009 election campaign
The NDP and Liberals voted against a money bill on May 4, 2009, defeating the MacDonald government and hence forcing an election one year before it was due. By this time, the NDP had been leading in opinion polls for most of the last three years and was on target to win a minority government. The NDP looked to hold its support in the Metro Halifax area, and make gains on the South Shore and rural mainland Nova Scotia.
Dexter campaigned on a document called Better Deal 2009 which came with 50 promises to be completed over 4 years, and focused on 7 key commitments of creating new jobs, helping to keep emergency rooms open, taking the HST off of home electricity, fixing rural roads, helping seniors, giving young people a reason to stay in the province, and more renewable energy.
On June 9, 2009, Dexter was elected the first NDP premier of Nova Scotia with a majority government. They held their support in Halifax and Cape Breton, and expanded their base on the South Shore, Pictou and suburban Halifax. The NDP won in the Annapolis Valley and Central Nova Scotia for the first time, winning the seats of Kings North, Kings South, Truro-Bible Hill, Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley and Cumberland North.
Premier of Nova Scotia First year
Dexter's party won the general election held on June 9, 2009, and became the first NDP government in Nova Scotia, and the first in Atlantic Canada. He was sworn in as Premier of Nova Scotia on June 19, 2009.
The Dexter government struggled for the first year of its mandate to control spending on public programs while increasing revenue. It paid off when Dexter's minister of finance Graham Steele posted the provincial budget on April 4, 2011, showing a $447 million surplus – one of the largest in Nova Scotia's history and only the 7th time the debt was paid down since 1950. Major factors in recording this surplus were a one-time adjustment from the federal government of almost $200 million as well as an increase to the HST by two percentage points. However, Dexter's government also made several unpopular decisions, including removing the freeze on tuition fee hikes for Nova Scotia universitiesNova Scotia lifts tuition freeze, Maclean's, February 1, 2011 as well as budget cuts and freezes in public education and health care spending.
The first year in office, Dexter and his NDP government sat in the legislature for more days than the previous government's last four sessions combined; the Conservatives sat 15 days in the Fall of 2007, 21 days in the Spring of 2008, 16 days in the Fall of 2008 and 3 days in the Spring of 2009 when an election was called.60th Assemblée générale, 2nd session . nslegislature.ca Dexter's NDP government sat for 35 days in the Fall of 200961st Assemblée générale, 1st session . nslegislature.ca and 32 days in the Spring of 2010.Assembly 61, Session 4. nslegislature.ca
Legislative highlights in the first year included the province beginning to help cover the travel cost for out-of-province medical care, increasing funding to women's shelters for the first time in a decade,. The Canadian Press (2010-06-23) creating a Graduate Retention Rebate for graduates who stay in Nova Scotia, banning uranium mining and the use of cosmetic pesticides, banning political donations by unions and businesses, and launching a new renewable energy strategy with a target of 40% renewable energy by 2020.
In December 2009, at an international summit in Copenhagen, Dexter was awarded a Climate Leadership in Canada award for putting a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap on electricity in Nova Scotia.
In Dexter's first year as Premier two significant stories caused controversy for the NDP government and Nova Scotia's MLAs. On February 3, 2010, Nova Scotia auditor general Jacques Lapointe released a report stating that many Nova Scotia politicians had filed expense claims that were "excessive or inappropriate" because of inadequate spending controls that invite errors and misuse. Lapointe's report found that politicians had used taxpayers' money to buy items including televisions, cameras and other electronic equipment, custom-made furniture, model boats, and espresso makers. Lapointe's report questioned the appropriateness of the spending habits of all three main political parties. Dexter himself expensed $7,650 for a pair of laptops and a digital camera, while taxpayers picked up his annual $3,500 professional fee to the Nova Scotia Barrister's Society. Dexter later rejected a call for a public inquiry into the MLA spending scandal, saying that due to the Auditor General's report, excessive and inappropriate spending by MLAs would be curtailed. Dexter promised reforms to the expense system, and the first bill he introduced in the spring of 2010 was An Act to Establish a Management Commission for the Effective Administration of the House of Assembly, saying "I promised Nova Scotians that their demands for an open and transparent system for MLA expenses would be met."
Three former and one incumbent Member of the Legislative Assembly, Liberals Dave Wilson, Russell MacKinnon, Progressive Conservative Richard Hurlburt, and former NDP turned Independent MLA Trevor Zinck were criminally charged for their involvement.Four charged in MLA expense scandal, Maclean's, March 10, 2010
The second controversy occurred on February 25, 2010, when Elections Nova Scotia fined the governing NDP $10,000, the maximum fine under the governing act, for accepting an illegal campaign donation from a trade union, referring the case to police. The agency said the NDP took more than $5,000 from a single donor and failed to return $45,000 from eight unions and one union affiliate, though it "knew or should have known" the money was all from the Mainland Building and Construction Trades Council. After the release of the report, Dexter stated that he had believed the money had been returned. Party secretary Ed Wark resigned, citing a "serious error in judgment".
Second year