Darrell Dexter

Darrell Elvin Dexter (born 1957) is a Canadian lawyer, journalist and former naval officer who served as the 27th premier of Nova Scotia from 2009 to 2013.

Darrell Dexter was born on September 10, 1957, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Elvin, a steel metal worker, and Florence Dexter (née Pace), and grew up in the rural community of Milton in Queens County.

He was the first member of his family to go to university.

Dexter volunteered for Alexa McDonough in her 1979 federal election campaign.

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 Combat Information Officer on board HMCS Yukon and HMCS Qu'Appelle 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 was also once a member of the Dartmouth General Hospital Commission, Chair of the Dartmouth Common Committee, a former member of the Board of Directors of the Victorian Order of Nurses (Dartmouth Branch), and a member of the Community Planning Association.

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.

A member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party, he served as party leader from 2001 to 2013.

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 the leadership against John MacDonell in 2002 and won with 63% of the vote.

In Dexter's first provincial campaign in 2003, the NDP campaign trailed in third place in many polls and was 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 Cape Breton.

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, 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 balanced budgets.

On election night, Dexter and the NDP did make small gains in the popular vote and won four more seats, including two in Dartmouth, one in Cape Breton and one in Pictou County, and the PC government of John Hamm was reduced to a minority.

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 was returned once again as the official opposition, but did make major gains on election night.

The party gained five seats for a total of 20, the best performance in its history.

Dexter also was comfortably re-elected in his own seat of Cole Harbour with 59.5% of the vote.

The NDP increased its share of the popular vote to 34.5%, a rise of 4 percentage points.

The NDP also won seats in the South Shore region, where it had not performed well in previous elections, specifically in Shelburne and Queens.

Dexter was Opposition Leader to both premier John Hamm and Rodney MacDonald of the PCs.

The MacDonald Government called an election for June 13, 2006, and Dexter was once again the NDP's candidate for Premier.

He credited his 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 opinion polls, which it held consistently until the 2009 election.

He became Premier in 2009 after his party defeated the governing Progressive Conservative Party, leading the first NDP government in Atlantic Canada and the second east of Manitoba.

The NDP and Liberals voted against a money bill on May 4, 2009, defeating the MacDonald government and hence forcing an election one year before it was due.

By this time, the NDP had been leading in opinion polls for most of the last three years and was 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.

His government was defeated in the 2013 election, becoming the first Nova Scotia government in 131 years to be denied a second mandate; Dexter himself was defeated in his constituency by 21 votes.

Dexter now serves as a lobbyist for the cannabis industry.

In September 2015, Dexter joined Global Public Affairs as Vice Chair.

Dexter is married to Kelly Wilson and together they have one son.