The year that was in Nova Scotia politics
A wobbly 12 months as politicians learn to ride their new bicycles
2014 was a learning year for Nova Scotia politicians.
After the October 2013 election, everybody played musical chairs: the Liberals from Official Opposition to government, the Progressive Conservatives from third party to Official Opposition, the NDP from government to third party.
For political observers, it was a little like watching three kids trying to ride a bike for the first time: not much grace or speed, and lots of wobble.
Only a handful of MLAs had any experience in their new role: Keith Colwell and Michel Samson had briefly been ministers in the MacLellan government in 1998-99, and Alfie MacLeod had briefly been part of the official opposition in 1997-98. Karen Casey also had ministerial experience, but it was with the PCs before she jumped ship to the Liberals in 2011.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising, then, that 2014 will go down as The Year That Not Much Happened. Everybody was learning.
The political highlight of 2014
The political highlight of 2014 was, without question, the McNeil government’s double-barrelled boldness in health-sector collective bargaining.
The Liberals went into the spring 2014 legislative session facing a possible strike by one occupation (nurses) in one health authority (Capital Health). They came out of the session with essential services legislation covering the entire health and community services sectors. The unions were caught flat-footed, and could not rally public opinion or even their own membership.
By seizing the initiative with a broad essential services law, the Liberals guaranteed they would not be undone by the sort of strike threats that weakened the Hamm and Dexter governments.
And the Liberals still weren’t done. In the fall session, they bulled through changes to the configuration of health-care unions. The consequences are still being worked out via arbitration, but the largest union and the government’s toughest opponent, the NSGEU, will lose thousands of members and millions in union dues.
Apart its verve on the labour front, the McNeil government has demonstrated little imagination or energy. They spent the year receiving reports and watching bureaucratic wheels turn. They will not have that luxury in 2015, which is shaping up to be the key year of the McNeil administration. More on that in next week’s column.
PCs glad to turn the page on 2014
For the PCs, there was good news and bad in 2014.
The good news: Jamie Baillie won 95per cent support for his leadership at the party convention in February.
The bad news: the PCs and Baillie didn’t make any headway in public support over the rest of the year. The latest polling numbers are poor, and worse for Baillie than the party.
In June, Baillie’s leadership was specifically called into question by departing caucus member Chuck Porter. Porter is a feet-on-the-ground kind of guy. Losing someone like him is not a good sign.
It’s easy to explain away Baillie’s troubles in finding traction: a federal party that’s not always an easy sell in Nova Scotia, a new provincial government still on its honeymoon, a small caucus with four rookies, plus veteran Alfie MacLeod’s extended absence due to illness. But Baillie and the PCs will be glad to turn the page on 2014.
NDP still struggling
As for the NDP, the best you can say about 2014 is that it was better than 2013, when the party lost government and its long-serving leader resigned.
Interim leader Maureen MacDonald took on the painful but necessary task of trying to put Humpty together again. Like any defeated government, the NDP has a fraction of the money and staff that it once had, and lots of members with bones to pick.
Looking back over 2014, it’s hard to think of any issue on which the NDP stood out with the public.
Like the PCs, the small NDP caucus struggled with the illness of a veteran member. It hurts to lose, for an extended period, someone as experienced as Gordie Gosse. Fortunately, Gosse appears on the road to recovery.
Along with the PCs, the NDP will likely look back on 2014 as a year best forgotten.
Next week: Why 2015 will be much more exciting than 2014.
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