I took a very deep breath upon learning Alexa McDonough, the former leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party and later Canada's NDP, had passed away of Alzheimer's this morning at the age of 77. This disease also claimed the life of her father industrialist Lloyd Shaw in 1993.
In June 1995, I got involved in Alexa's bid for the federal NDP leadership. I had recently returned to Ottawa after spending the winter semester working in London as a parliamentary intern for two Labour MPs. It was not my plan to get involved in the campaign as I still needed to complete my undergraduate thesis at Carleton University.
But those plans would change after I attended a NDP Federal Council meeting at which McDonough spoke along with her two other leadership rivals Svend Robinson, a MP from British Columbia (also the first openly gay politician at a national level) who was on the left-wing party and Lorne Nystrom, a veteran MP from Saskatchewan.
I was not a fan of Robinson because of his anti-Israel views. Nystrom, on the other hand, I liked a great deal and occasionally had some friendly conversations with him on Parliament Hill when I worked as an intern for several NDP MPs.
However, I wanted to hear from McDonough whom I had never met previously. She was the first woman to ever lead a Canadian political party and I had admired her from afar for what she had done in Nova Scotia in nearly singlehandedly rebuilding a moribund NDP into a small, but viable opposition party which kept both Tory and Liberal governments on their toes. After hearing her speak, I was convinced she could do the same at the federal level. At the time, the NDP had lost official party status in the House of Commons with only 9 seats and its political future was bleak. The party needed someone with an iron will who could build things from the ground up. With a little arm twisting by Prince Edward Island NDP leader Dr. Herb Dickieson, I was on board.
In between working on my undergraduate thesis, I spent the summer and early fall largely working the phones trying to get support from elected NDP officials at the provincial level (mostly in Saskatchewan) to consider supporting Alexa if the second ballot came down to between her and Robinson. Then during the Convention in October in Ottawa, I served as her campaign youth organizer. Now most of the youth activists in the party supported Robinson. My job was to try to convince the young Nystrom supporters to back Alexa on the second ballot.
As with much of the political press, the Nystrom supporters had largely written off McDonough off thinking she would finish a distant third. But I didn't let that get in my way. I made my case and gave them an Alexa button. When I did this I told them they didn't have to wear it at the moment, but to keep it with him when they needed it.
The turning point during the Convention was the leadership debate. Alexa exceeded expectations, Svend met them while Nystrom underperformed. Following that debate, the mood in the hall changed. People were now approaching me and other members of the campaign with a newfound respect.
As expected, Robinson finished atop the first ballot with Alexa a very close second. All of a sudden, the Alexa buttons were everywhere. OK, I didn't hand out that many buttons, but the campaign's strategy had succeeded beyond its wildest expectations. Robinson saw the writing on the wall and told Alexa there didn't need to be a second ballot and that she had his support. Jubilation ensued. I remember standing on a chair and falling down from it. But I was too happy to feel any pain.
In addition to getting to know Alexa over that summer and fall, I also got acquainted with her sons Justin and Travis. I found them to be very gracious, level headed, mature young men who inherited a great deal from their mother.
In the 1997 Canadian federal election, the NDP would bounce back and win 21 seats. More than a third of those came in Atlantic Canada. Alexa would lead the party in the 2000 federal election where they were reduced to 13 seats before stepping down in 2003 and was succeeded by Jack Layton. Of course, Layton would take the NDP into official opposition status with a breakthrough in Quebec in the 2011 federal election. Sadly, Layton would be dead only months later. Had he lived, I believe he rather than Justin Trudeau would be living at 24 Sussex Drive.
As for the aftermath of Alexa's victory, I had hoped there would be a future for me with her beyond the convention. Her office did grant me a job interview, but it did not come to pass. Between 1997 and 2000, I interviewed for jobs with several other NDP MPs but again nothing would come of it.
In the spring of 2000, I would move to the U.S. Within 18 months of moving down here, the 9/11 attacks would happen and McDonough's response was to criticize the U.S. stating it should not appoint itself "judge, jury and executioner" and opposed armed intervention in Afghanistan. This was a bridge too far for me. I could no longer support the NDP even from afar. In time, my politics took a significant rightward turn. By the end of the 2000's, I was writing for The American Spectator. Of course, the emergence of Trump turned those politics back left but towards the center. Still, nothing is the same as it was before.
More than a quarter century has passed since my involvement with Alexa McDonough's successful bid for the federal NDP leadership. Looking back on it, Alexa was exactly what the NDP needed at the time and I'm glad I played a role in it however small. While she never became Premier of Nova Scotia or Prime Minister of Canada, McDonough made the most of her time in Canadian politics with what little resources she had at both the provincial and federal level. R.I.P.
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