Cape Breton Labour Party

Last updated

Cape Breton Labour Party
Leader Paul MacEwan (only leader)
Founded1982
Dissolved1984
Ideology Social democracy

The Cape Breton Labour Party was a social democratic provincial political party in Nova Scotia, Canada, which drew most of its support from Cape Breton Island, the northern part of the province of Nova Scotia.

Contents

Founding

The party was founded by Paul MacEwan, who had been an NDP member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for ten years, 1970 to 1980. MacEwan was kicked out of the NDP in 1980, after allegedly calling party executive Dennis Theman a Trotskyite. [1] MacEwan ran as an independent [2] in the 1981 election and was re-elected by a strong margin. [3] He took this as a mandate to set up a rival party.

The Cape Breton Labour Party was founded at a convention held in Glace Bay in the fall of 1982. [4] MacEwan was elected its provincial leader. While at first the intent was to run candidates only on Cape Breton Island, the provisions of the Nova Scotia Elections Act forced the party to run candidates also in several mainland ridings to obtain recognition as a registered political party. The party's name was also changed to the Labour Party of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia at this time. In the end, Labour fielded a total of fourteen candidates, eleven on Cape Breton and three on the mainland. [5]

In the 1984 election, the 14 Cape Breton Labour candidates obtained a total of 8,322 votes. MacEwan was re-elected, with 3,832 votes. He thus became the first, and so far the only, candidate sponsored by a fourth political party to gain a seat in the Nova Scotia Legislature. Labour candidates managed to retain their deposits in the constituencies of Cape Breton East and Cape Breton Centre, while the NDP vote in those areas plunged to all-time lows. Previously, New Democrats Jeremy Akerman and Buddy MacEachern had led the NDP and served as MLAs for these constituencies.

After the 1984 election, MacEwan felt that the Labour Party could not continue, as it had raised insufficient funds to meet its minimum financial requirements. He ran in the next provincial election, held in 1988, as an independent. [6] He was re-elected and joined the Liberal Party in 1990.

Issues

The main issues in contention between the Labour Party and the NDP centered on how the party was to be run and in what direction. MacEwan maintained that freedom of speech was important in politics and that elected representatives should be free to represent their constituents as they best determined. The Halifax-based NDP, led by Alexa McDonough throughout this period, emphasized established party policy and expected MLAs to subscribe to this first before formulating their opinions on issues.

Much of the tussle was over geography and whether Cape Breton, or downtown Halifax, should be in control of operations. The Halifax NDP claimed that the Labour Party was "separatist" but never identified how. There is no mention found advocating any constitutional change for Cape Breton Island in the advertising run by the Labour Party in the 1984 election. The party issued a multi-point election platform, but its contents were confined to such traditional Cape Breton issues as "proper" levels of government support for the coal and steel industries, a higher minimum wage, reform of workers' compensation, and improvements to highways.

The dispute was accentuated by bad personal relations between MacEwan and McDonough, each viewing the other as unworthy. MacEwan believed that McDonough had encouraged his expulsion from the NDP for political advantage and had gained the NDP leadership by intrigue. Both criticized the other publicly: McDonough depicted MacEwan as an unrepentant enemy of all the NDP stood for, while MacEwan described McDonough and her father, industrialist Lloyd R. Shaw, as seeking to use their wealth to try to prevent democracy in Nova Scotia politics.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexa McDonough</span> Canadian politician (1944–2022)

Alexa Ann McDonough was a Canadian politician who became the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Nova Scotia, when she was elected the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party's (NSNDP) leader in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nova Scotia New Democratic Party</span> Political party in Canada

The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is a social-democratic, progressive provincial party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the provincial entity of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP). It was founded as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in 1932, and became the New Democratic Party in 1961. It became the governing party of Nova Scotia following the 2009 Nova Scotia election, winning 31 seats in the Legislature, under the leadership of Premier Darrell Dexter. It is the first New Democratic Party in Atlantic Canada to form a government, and the second to form a government in a province east of Manitoba. The party lost government at the 2013 election, losing 24 seats, including Dexter's seat. Gary Burrill, the party’s leader from 2016 to 2022, is credited with bringing the party back to its left-wing roots. The party currently holds 6 seats in the Legislature and has been led by Claudia Chender since June 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darrell Dexter</span> Canadian politician

Darrell Elvin Dexter 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.

Gordon Leonard Gosse Jr. was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral districts of Cape Breton Nova and Sydney-Whitney Pier in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2003 to 2015. He was a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

Paul MacEwan was a politician in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, and long-time member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly (MLA).

Jeremy Bernard Akerman is a former Canadian politician, writer and actor and a former leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

Francis "Frank" Corbett is a former Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia.

John Edgar Holm is a Canadian politician from Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia in the Halifax Regional Municipality. He represented the electoral districts of Sackville, and Sackville-Cobequid in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1984 to 2003 as a member of the New Democratic Party.

Donald MacDonald was a Canadian social democratic politician and trade unionist who led the Nova Scotia Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was elected as a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1941. In 1968 he was elected President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

Helen MacDonald is a Canadian politician. She represented the electoral district of Cape Breton The Lakes in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1997 to 1999. She was a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

James "Buddy" MacEachern was a Canadian politician from Nova Scotia. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton Centre in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1974 to 1981. He was a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Nova Scotia general election</span> Held on June 9, 2009 to elect House of Assembly members of Nova Scotia, Canada

The 2009 Nova Scotia general election was held on June 9, 2009 to elect members of the 61st House of Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The government was defeated on a money bill on May 4, and the Nova Scotia House of Assembly was dissolved by Lieutenant Governor Mayann Francis on May 5. thereby triggering an election. The NDP won a majority government, forming government the first time in the province's history, and for the first time in an Atlantic Canadian province. The governing Progressive Conservatives were reduced to third place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan MacMaster</span> Canadian politician

Allan Gerard MacMaster is a Canadian politician. He represents the electoral district of Inverness in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Nova Scotia general election</span>

The 2013 Nova Scotia general election was held on October 8, 2013, to elect members to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 New Democratic Party leadership election</span>

The 2012 New Democratic Party leadership election (NDP), was held March 24, 2012, in order to elect a permanent successor to Jack Layton who had died the previous summer.

Russell Francis MacNeil was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton Centre in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1989 to 1998. He was a member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party.

Reeves Matheson is a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton East in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1998 to 1999. He was a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Nova Scotia New Democratic Party leadership election</span> Nova Scotia New Democratic Party leadership election

The election for the leadership of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party was triggered on November 16, 2013, following Darrell Dexter's resignation after losing the seat he contested in the 2013 election. The party elected Gary Burrill as their new leader on February 27, 2016, following a one-member one-vote election held during a convention at the Holiday Inn Harbourview in Dartmouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Nova Scotia general election</span>

The 2021 Nova Scotia general election was held on August 17, 2021, to elect members to the 64th General Assembly of Nova Scotia.

References

  1. "NDP chiefs vote in unison to kick out Cape Bretoner". The Globe and Mail. June 16, 1980.
  2. "NDP nomination meeting is disrupted by faction". The Globe and Mail. September 21, 1981.
  3. "PCs win crushing victory in N.S.". The Globe and Mail. October 7, 1981.
  4. "New political party to test wings in N.S.". The Globe and Mail. January 18, 1983.
  5. "Self-appointed Cape Breton king riles opponents of the populist cause". The Globe and Mail. October 20, 1984.
  6. "The NDP's battle for Cape Breton". The Globe and Mail. August 6, 1988.