Darrell Dexter
Encyclopedia
Darrell Dexter is a Canadian
lawyer, journalist and former naval officer who is serving as the 27th and current Premier
of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia
. A member of the New Democratic Party
, he has led the Nova Scotia NDP
since 2001. He was elected Premier in 2009 after defeating Progressive Conservative Premier
Rodney MacDonald
in a landslide. He is the first NDP premier from a province east of Ontario
.
. and grew up in the rural community of Milton
, Queens County. He is the son of a sheet metal worker and was the first member of his family to go to university.
Dexter holds degrees in education and law from Dalhousie University
, 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 Command Information Officer onboard 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.
A former Chair and member Board of the Dartmouth Downtown Development Corporation, Dexter also sat as Chair of the Dartmouth Waterfront Development Task Force. He was once a member of the Dartmouth General Hospital Commission and Chair of the Dartmouth Common Committee.
Dexter is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Victorian Order of Nurses (Dartmouth Branch), on the Audit Committee for the Heritage Credit Union, and a member of the Community Planning Association.
Dexter is married to Kelly Wilson and together they have one son, Harris.
, which had been ceded to the Nova Scotia Liberal Party.
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 and children's prescription drugs, 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 the balanced budget legacy of the Hamm government. However, he supported the governing PC's tax cuts which were criticized by the Liberals.
On election night, Dexter and the NDP did make small gains in the popular vote and won four more seats, including two in Dexter's hometown of Dartmouth, one in Cape Breton and one in Pictou County, and the Hamm government was reduced to a minority administration.
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 did not win government, but did make major gains on election day. The party gained five seats for a total of 20, the party's best performance in its history. Dexter also was easily re-elected in his own seat of Cole Harbour
with 59.5%. The NDP gained roughly 4% of the popular vote to 34.5%. The NDP also won seats in the South Shore
region of Nova Scotia, an area where it had not performed well previously, specifically Shelburne
and Queens
.
Within a few months of the 2006 election, the NDP took a lead in the opinion polls, and has held it consistently since.
Dexter's third provincial campaign in 2009 saw the NDP campaign leading in many polls and 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 of the seats in the Nova Scotia legislature.
He was officially sworn in as Premier of Nova Scotia on June 19, 2009.
Dexter's government was elected on a centrist and mildly pro-business platform, promising to deliver balanced budgets for Nova Scotia which has been characterized as more Red Tory
than social democratic, though the party pledged more money for healthcare, daycare and public sector workers while removing the provincial portion of the HST
off home heating oil.
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 surplus 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 universities
as well as budget cuts and freezes in public education and health care spending.
Dexter was Premier when Auditor General Jacques LaPointe revealed suspicious expense claims by MLAs
in 2010. Dexter himself was revealed to have billed taxpayers for his barrister fees, which he subsequently repaid. 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.
The first year in office, Dexter and his NDP government sat in the legislature for more days than the previous government's last 4 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. Dexter's NDP government sat for 35 days in the Fall of 2009 and 32 days in the Spring of 2010.
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, 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.
After coming to power, Dexter and his NDP government were shaken by multiple scandals involving expense claims and campaign contributions. On November 10, 2009, it was discovered that members of Dexter's new government had rung up excessive meal and drink bills at the taxpayers' expense.
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."
Auditor general Jacques Lapointe also revealed that Dexter used more of his constituency allowance for extra staff payments than any other New Democrat, according to figures released on February 18, 2010. Lapointe flagged the payments issue in his February 3, 2010, report because there was no evidence remittances for the Canada Pension Plan
, employment insurance and income tax
were made to the Canada Revenue
Agency.
On February 25, 2010, 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".
Dexter's NDP government continued to sit in the legislature for double the days of the previous government. Significant legislation in the second year included creating the province's first debt-cap for university students, a tax reduction for small business, an Auditor General Act giving that office more power and access to information, an indefinite moratorium on oil and gas exploration on Georges Bank, and Canada's first "Lemon Law" which requires used car dealers to give buyers more information.
Two decisions saw significant opposition during Dexter's second year as Premier. The first was his government's replacing an early learning program called Reading Recovery with Succeeding in Reading. Critics were concerned changing programs would hurt children's literacy, while advocates argued that the old program was too expensive and the new program would help more children in more grades.
Business advocates were concerned that a bill that was barely debated by the opposition in the legislature in the bill's first stages would give power to labour unions, and they held up passage of the bill by several weeks. The bill combined the activities of six boards into one unified Labour Board and created a Labour Management Review Committee that consisted of managers and employees from unionized workplaces. Critics wanted non-unionized business people to have a say in how workplaces become unionized and worried about a preamble that supported including collective bargaining as part of the Freedom to Assemble, while advocates argued that the committee was required by law to consult with businesses and that the preamble had been in the Canada Labour Code since 1972. The government amended the bill to guarantee non-unionized businesses are consulted on potential labour changes affecting matters including union drives.
The 2011 budget was tabled on April 5. Although the final figures for 2010 showed a surprising surplus, Dexter's Finance Minister Graham Steele estimated a deficit for 2011 of $389 million, and promised to continue with their 4 year plan to get Nova Scotia out of unsustainable spending through both economic growth and trimming department budgets. The NDP pledged to reduce debt servicing costs, expand their ban March Madness spending in departments, keep unbudgeted spending low and continue to review department programs. The budget also pledged to open Canada's first Collaborative Emergency Centres as a way of keeping emergency health services in rural Nova Scotia, reduce the price of prescription drugs for people on Medicare, provide tax relief by increasing the Basic Personal Amount, and give more money to people living on income assistance. Critics suggested the projected deficit was higher than it should be as a way of the government providing good news when the deficit turns out to be lower and called for more cuts and faster cuts, while Dexter's government said unpredictable conditions in the worldwide economy required caution and stated the opposition would need to explain where extra cuts would come from.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
lawyer, journalist and former naval officer who is serving as the 27th and current Premier
Premier of Nova Scotia
The Premier of Nova Scotia is the first minister for the Canadian province of Nova Scotia who presides over the Executive Council of Nova Scotia. Following the Westminster system, the premier is normally the leader of the political party which has the most seats in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly...
of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. A member of the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
, he has led the Nova Scotia NDP
Nova Scotia New Democratic Party
The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is a social-democratic provincial party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is aligned with the federal New Democratic Party . Originally founded as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1932, it became the New Democratic Party in 1961. It became the governing...
since 2001. He was elected Premier in 2009 after defeating Progressive Conservative Premier
Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia
The Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia, registered under the Nova Scotia Elections Act as the "Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia", is a moderate right-of-centre political party in Nova Scotia, Canada....
Rodney MacDonald
Rodney MacDonald
Rodney Joseph MacDonald is a Canadian politician, educator and musician who served as the 26th Premier of Nova Scotia from 2006 to 2009 and as MLA for the riding of Inverness in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1999 to 2009....
in a landslide. He is the first NDP premier from a province east of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
Early life
Darrell Dexter was born in Halifax, Nova ScotiaNova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. and grew up in the rural community of Milton
Milton, Nova Scotia
Milton, Nova Scotia is a village located immediately north of Liverpool, Nova Scotia in the Region of Queens Nova Scotia. The village is most well known for being the birth place of the international best selling author Margaret Marshall Saunders. Her most famous book was Beautiful Joe...
, Queens County. He is the son of a sheet metal worker and was the first member of his family to go to university.
Dexter holds degrees in education and law from Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...
, and a degree in journalism from the University of King's College
University of King's College
The University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering mainly undergraduate programs....
. He used his journalism degree for a period as a reporter for The Daily News
The Daily News (Halifax)
The Daily News was a tabloid newspaper in Halifax, Nova Scotia that was published from 1974 until ceasing operations in February 2008.-History:...
in the early 1980s. Dexter also served in the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
holding the rank of Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
and was a Command Information Officer onboard and while deployed with Maritime Forces Pacific
Maritime Forces Pacific
In the Canadian Forces, Maritime Forces Pacific is responsible for the fleet and operations of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Pacific Ocean...
.
Dexter was a practicing lawyer before he entered public life. He was first elected as a Dartmouth City Councilor, serving from 1994 to 1996.
A former Chair and member Board of the Dartmouth Downtown Development Corporation, Dexter also sat as Chair of the Dartmouth Waterfront Development Task Force. He was once a member of the Dartmouth General Hospital Commission and Chair of the Dartmouth Common Committee.
Dexter is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Victorian Order of Nurses (Dartmouth Branch), on the Audit Committee for the Heritage Credit Union, and a member of the Community Planning Association.
Dexter is married to Kelly Wilson and together they have one son, Harris.
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, 2003, 2006 and 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 leadership against John MacDonell in 2002 and won with 63% of the vote.2003 election campaign
Dexter's first provincial campaign in 2003 saw the NDP campaign trailing in third place in many polls and 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 their former stronghold of Cape BretonCape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
, which had been ceded to the Nova Scotia Liberal Party.
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 and children's prescription drugs, 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 the balanced budget legacy of the Hamm government. However, he supported the governing PC's tax cuts which were criticized by the Liberals.
On election night, Dexter and the NDP did make small gains in the popular vote and won four more seats, including two in Dexter's hometown of Dartmouth, one in Cape Breton and one in Pictou County, and the Hamm government was reduced to a minority administration.
2006 election campaign
The MacDonaldRodney MacDonald
Rodney Joseph MacDonald is a Canadian politician, educator and musician who served as the 26th Premier of Nova Scotia from 2006 to 2009 and as MLA for the riding of Inverness in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1999 to 2009....
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 did not win government, but did make major gains on election day. The party gained five seats for a total of 20, the party's best performance in its history. Dexter also was easily re-elected in his own seat of Cole Harbour
Cole Harbour
Cole Harbour is the name for a natural harbour located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.It is located in central Halifax County, with the mouth of the harbour located 6 kilometres northeast of Halifax Harbour....
with 59.5%. The NDP gained roughly 4% of the popular vote to 34.5%. The NDP also won seats in the South Shore
South Shore (Nova Scotia)
The South Shore is a region of Nova Scotia, Canada. Although it has no formal identity and is variously defined by geographic, county and other political boundaries, it is generally understood as the Atlantic coast running southwest from Halifax Harbour to the end of Shelburne County...
region of Nova Scotia, an area where it had not performed well previously, specifically Shelburne
Shelburne (provincial electoral district)
Shelburne is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.Its Member of the Legislative Assembly since the 2006 election has been Sterling Belliveau of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party . Belliveau defeated PC L. Eddie...
and Queens
Queens (Nova Scotia provincial electoral district)
Queens is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.It is located in the South Shore region, bordered by the ridings of Lunenburg West, Shelburne, and Digby Annapolis...
.
Opposition Leader
Dexter was Opposition Leader to both Conservative Premier John Hamm and Rodney MacDonald. He credited is 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 the opinion polls, and has held it consistently since.
2009 election campaign
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 of the seats in the Nova Scotia legislature.
Premier of Nova Scotia
On June 9, 2009, Dexter was elected the first NDP Premier of Nova Scotia, and the first in Atlantic Canada.He was officially sworn in as Premier of Nova Scotia on June 19, 2009.
Dexter's government was elected on a centrist and mildly pro-business platform, promising to deliver balanced budgets for Nova Scotia which has been characterized as more Red Tory
Red Tory
A red Tory is an adherent of a particular political philosophy, tradition, and disposition in Canada somewhat similar to the High Tory tradition in the United Kingdom; it is contrasted with "blue Tory". In Canada, the phenomenon of "red toryism" has fundamentally, if not exclusively, been found in...
than social democratic, though the party pledged more money for healthcare, daycare and public sector workers while removing the provincial portion of the HST
Harmonized Sales Tax
The Harmonized Sales Tax is the name used in Canada to describe the combination of the federal Goods and Services Tax and the regional Provincial Sales Tax into a single value added sales tax in five of the ten Canadian provinces: Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, British...
off home heating oil.
First year
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 SteeleGraham Steele
Graham Steele is Nova Scotia's Minister of Finance and Minister of Acadian Affairs in Darrell Dexter's Cabinet. As a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, he represents the constituency of Halifax Fairview...
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 surplus 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 universities
Higher education in Nova Scotia
- Introduction :Higher Education in Nova Scotia refers to education provided by higher education institutions. In Canada, education is the responsibility of the provinces and there is no Canadian federal ministry governing education...
as well as budget cuts and freezes in public education and health care spending.
Dexter was Premier when Auditor General Jacques LaPointe revealed suspicious expense claims by MLAs
Nova Scotia Parliamentary Expenses scandal
The Nova Scotia Parliamentary Expenses Scandal is a political scandal in the province of Nova Scotia in 2010.-Background:Part-way through the first session of the 61st General Assembly, the NDP, under Premier Darrell Dexter, announced that it would "eliminate an MLA severance payment as well as...
in 2010. Dexter himself was revealed to have billed taxpayers for his barrister fees, which he subsequently repaid. Three former and one incumbent Member of the Legislative Assembly
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
, Liberals
Liberal Party of Nova Scotia
The Liberal Party of Nova Scotia is a political party in Nova Scotia, Canada.-Origins:The party is descended from the pre-Confederation Reformers in Nova Scotia who coalesced around Joseph Howe demanding the institution of responsible government...
Dave Wilson
Dave Wilson
Dave Wilson was an American television director, best known for his work as the director of the NBC program Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1986 and 1989 to 1995...
, Russell MacKinnon
Russell MacKinnon
Russell Vincent MacKinnon is a land surveyor and politician in Nova Scotia, Canada. He represented Cape Breton West in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1988 to 1995 and then from 1998 to 2006 as a Liberal and then Independent member....
, Progressive Conservative Richard Hurlburt
Richard Hurlburt
Richard M. Hurlburt is a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Yarmouth in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from August 16, 1999 to February 9, 2010....
, and former NDP turned Independent MLA Trevor Zinck
Trevor Zinck
Trevor J. Zinck is a Canadian politician and member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, representing the riding of Dartmouth North as an Independent. He was first elected for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party in the 2006 election, succeeding retiring NDP MLA Jerry Pye...
were criminally charged for their involvement.
The first year in office, Dexter and his NDP government sat in the legislature for more days than the previous government's last 4 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. Dexter's NDP government sat for 35 days in the Fall of 2009 and 32 days in the Spring of 2010.
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, 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.
After coming to power, Dexter and his NDP government were shaken by multiple scandals involving expense claims and campaign contributions. On November 10, 2009, it was discovered that members of Dexter's new government had rung up excessive meal and drink bills at the taxpayers' expense.
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."
Auditor general Jacques Lapointe also revealed that Dexter used more of his constituency allowance for extra staff payments than any other New Democrat, according to figures released on February 18, 2010. Lapointe flagged the payments issue in his February 3, 2010, report because there was no evidence remittances for the Canada Pension Plan
Canada Pension Plan
The Canada Pension Plan is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It forms one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other component being Old Age Security...
, employment insurance and income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
were made to the Canada Revenue
Agency.
On February 25, 2010, Elections Nova Scotia
Elections Nova Scotia
Elections Nova Scotia is the non-partisan agency in Nova Scotia, of the legislative assembly charged with running provincial elections.-External links:*...
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
The Dexter government used the second year of its mandate to continue to get spending under control while increasing revenue. Dexter also lobbied the federal government on helping with "nation-building" projects including a Lower Churchill Fall renewable energy project from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia and awarding a national ship building contract to the Halifax shipyard.Dexter's NDP government continued to sit in the legislature for double the days of the previous government. Significant legislation in the second year included creating the province's first debt-cap for university students, a tax reduction for small business, an Auditor General Act giving that office more power and access to information, an indefinite moratorium on oil and gas exploration on Georges Bank, and Canada's first "Lemon Law" which requires used car dealers to give buyers more information.
Two decisions saw significant opposition during Dexter's second year as Premier. The first was his government's replacing an early learning program called Reading Recovery with Succeeding in Reading. Critics were concerned changing programs would hurt children's literacy, while advocates argued that the old program was too expensive and the new program would help more children in more grades.
Business advocates were concerned that a bill that was barely debated by the opposition in the legislature in the bill's first stages would give power to labour unions, and they held up passage of the bill by several weeks. The bill combined the activities of six boards into one unified Labour Board and created a Labour Management Review Committee that consisted of managers and employees from unionized workplaces. Critics wanted non-unionized business people to have a say in how workplaces become unionized and worried about a preamble that supported including collective bargaining as part of the Freedom to Assemble, while advocates argued that the committee was required by law to consult with businesses and that the preamble had been in the Canada Labour Code since 1972. The government amended the bill to guarantee non-unionized businesses are consulted on potential labour changes affecting matters including union drives.
The 2011 budget was tabled on April 5. Although the final figures for 2010 showed a surprising surplus, Dexter's Finance Minister Graham Steele estimated a deficit for 2011 of $389 million, and promised to continue with their 4 year plan to get Nova Scotia out of unsustainable spending through both economic growth and trimming department budgets. The NDP pledged to reduce debt servicing costs, expand their ban March Madness spending in departments, keep unbudgeted spending low and continue to review department programs. The budget also pledged to open Canada's first Collaborative Emergency Centres as a way of keeping emergency health services in rural Nova Scotia, reduce the price of prescription drugs for people on Medicare, provide tax relief by increasing the Basic Personal Amount, and give more money to people living on income assistance. Critics suggested the projected deficit was higher than it should be as a way of the government providing good news when the deficit turns out to be lower and called for more cuts and faster cuts, while Dexter's government said unpredictable conditions in the worldwide economy required caution and stated the opposition would need to explain where extra cuts would come from.