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Rise again : Nova Scotia's NDP on the rocks / Howard Epstein.

by Epstein, Howard, 1949-

Empty Mirrors Press, 2015.

Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

Political parties -- Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia -- Politics and government -- 2009-

9780969510451 (pbk.)

Alternate title:

Nova Scotia's NDP on the rocks

348 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"When the New Democratic Party was elected to office in Nova Scotia in June 2009 it was heralded as an historic breakthrough. After a century of alternating Liberal and Conservative governments, a social democratic party took office, winning majority government. Hopes and expectations were high. There was talk of the NDP becoming the natural governing party of Nova Scotia; of successive mandates. Yet, only one election later, in October 2013, the NDP was reduced to third-party status in the Legislature. What happened? With such a full head of steam, how did the NDP ship run aground? Howard Epstein was aboard for the entire voyage, having been elected as an MLA in the breakthrough "class of 1998" and in every subsequent election until he retired from politics before the 2013 election. In Rise Again: Nova Scotia's NDP on the Rocks, Epstein -- a lawyer, environmentalist, social activist, and former Halifax municipal councilor -- provides an inside look at the NDP in Nova Scotia. He charts its years in opposition, from the feuding of the 1960s and 1970s in the Akerman and MacEwan years, through the strong leadership of Alexa McDonough in the 1980s, to the near miss of the 1999 election under Robert Chisholm, and finally the rise and fall of the NDP under Darrell Dexter. He illustrates the long and patient political journey that laid the groundwork for the party's 2009 breakthrough -- followed by the rapid change of course from core social democratic values and programs to 'pragmatic' goals of re-election. It's a sobering account of missed opportunities and increasingly blurred political vision. It provides valuable insights on the core values that the NDP needs to focus on if it is to rebuild in Nova Scotia, and indeed, to be successful elsewhere"--Back cover.

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