Former NDP leader McDonough leaving federal politics

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This article was published 02/06/2008 (6396 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HALIFAX — Former NDP leader Alexa McDonough confirmed Monday she is leaving federal politics.

The 63-year-old MP made the announcement at a news conference in Halifax, the federal riding she has represented since 1997, saying she will stay on until the next federal election, but she will not run again.

“This is a pretty emotional moment for me,” McDonough said in a statement.

“I am deeply indebted to the people of this great city and province for the trust they have placed in me again and again. However, I know this is the right decision. I don’t know if I can fully explain it, but I know in my heart that it’s time. It’s the right time.”

Monday marked the 11th anniversary of McDonough’s first election to the House of Commons.

McDonough led the federal NDP from 1995 to 2003, and in the 1997 election increased the party’s seat count from nine to 21, including six MPs from Nova Scotia.

Since she stepped down as leader, she has worked mostly on international development and peace advocacy.

As leader of the provincial New Democrats from 1980 to 1994, she turned the party into a viable political force before moving to federal politics.

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Darrell Dexter, who first encountered McDonough when he was a journalism student at King’s College in Halifax in the 1970s, recalled how she seemed to have “an unlimited supply of energy.”

Within a few minutes of their first meeting, he was assigned to prepare a research document outlining financial problems students were facing.

Like many in the Nova Scotia party, Dexter’s early political career was formed by McDonough’s leadership.

“Alexa carries a status within the Nova Scotia party that is almost legendary and universally appreciated,” he said.

John Buchanan, the former Conservative premier of the province, faced McDonough in the legislature as she fiercely criticized patronage in his government during the 1980s.

The veteran politician noted that “we did not agree politically but, on the other hand, I always like Alexa McDonough as a fellow parliamentarian.”

“There’s no question she was a critic of so-called patronage,” he said.

“Some of it may have been warranted, but most of it was not warranted as far as I was concerned.”

He argued that she was the key force in converting the party from a Cape Breton-based organization, to having a strong following on mainland Nova Scotia.

Buchanan said McDonough “changed the face of the party in Nova Scotia,” largely because of a personal appeal.

“She was extremely well liked, and in politics…that’s 50 to 60 per cent of the battle.”

Buchanan said it was logical that McDonough would become a social democrat because her father was a dedicated socialist.

“I wasn’t surprised she had gone to the NDP because that was her family background.”

–The Canadian Press