Leonard Goucher  | |
|---|---|
| Member of the  Nova Scotia House of Assembly  for Bedford  | |
| In office June 13, 2006 –June 9, 2009  | |
| Preceded by | Peter Christie | 
| Succeeded by | Kelly Regan | 
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 19,1947 | 
| Political party | Progressive Conservative | 
Leonard Goucher (born September 19,1947) is a Canadian politician who represented the electoral district of Bedford in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2006 to 2009. He is a member of the Progressive Conservatives. [1]
A town councilor in Bedford,Nova Scotia from 1988 to 1996,Goucher was elected to Halifax Regional Council in 2000. [2] [3] He was re-elected in 2004 and served as Deputy Mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality. [4] He entered provincial politics in the 2006 election,defeating Liberal leader Francis MacKenzie in the Bedford riding. [5] [6] In June 2006,Goucher was appointed to the Executive Council of Nova Scotia as Minister of Tourism,Culture and Heritage. [7] In October 2007,Goucher was shuffled to Minister of Immigration. [8] In January 2009,he was given two additional roles in cabinet,becoming Minister of the Public Service Commission,and Minister of Seniors. [9] In the 2009 election,Goucher was defeated by Liberal Kelly Regan. [10]
In February 2010,he became embroiled in a spending scandal involving inappropriate expenses charged to the public by a number of Nova Scotia MLAs. [11] Goucher was singled out by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation when they highlighted Nova Scotian politicians for their "outrageous" expense claims,naming him the all-star of the scandal and giving him the nickname Len "the master of multi-tasking" Goucher. [12] On February 14,2011 the RCMP released its investigation results and he was cleared of any wrongdoing.