23 Facts About Paul MacEwan

Paul MacEwan was a politician from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Paul MacEwan was a contentious politician, who seemed to court controversy.

Paul MacEwan formed his own political party, the Cape Breton Labour Party, to contest the 1984 provincial election.

Paul MacEwan served one-term as its leader, before the party disintegrated because of financial issues.

Paul MacEwan retired and lived another 14 years before finally succumbing to health issues in 2017, at age 74 in Sydney.

Paul MacEwan ran in Cape Breton Nova, a heavily blue collar riding that was home to the Sydney Steel plant and many coal miners.

Paul MacEwan was closely associated with the work of Jeremy Akerman, who served as the leader of the Nova Scotia NDP from 1968 to 1980.

Akerman won the party leadership by four votes in 1968, at a convention where Paul MacEwan persuaded eight uncommitted youth delegates to support Alkerman.

Paul MacEwan's expulsion became one of the dominant issues during the leadership race that autumn.

Since she did not have a seat in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, the party was left with just two seats, because Paul MacEwan was now an independent, and Akerman's seat was left vacant due to his resignation.

Paul MacEwan was the only independent elected to the legislature that year.

The main issue separating the Labor Party from the NDP was freedom of speech, which Paul MacEwan maintained the NDP no longer practised, as shown by the party's response to his criticism of Theman's reading recommendations.

Paul MacEwan was the only one of the party's fourteen candidates to win election in the 1984 provincial election.

Paul MacEwan's tenure was often controversial, with accusations of bias lodged by the opposition regarding his policing debates, for creative interpretations of the rules that favour government, and for attending government caucus meetings.

Paul MacEwan later served as Government House Leader, Chair of the Committee on Private and Local Bills, Deputy Government House Leader, and Caucus Whip.

Paul MacEwan retired in 2003 citing his health as one of the reasons he would not seek re-election.

Paul MacEwan won nine elections in a row, serving continuously for 33 years in the Nova Scotia Legislature.

Paul MacEwan holds the record as the Nova Scotia MLA with the longest uninterupted service in the House of Assembly.

Paul MacEwan was elected three times as a New Democrat: 1970,1974, and 1978; then, in 1981, as an independent; in 1984, on the Labour Party ticket; in 1988, again as an independent; and in 1993,1998, and 1999, as a Liberal.

Paul MacEwan obtained 80 per cent of the vote cast in 1993 and over 50 per cent in 1998 and in 1999.

Paul MacEwan's riding was often considered the safest riding in the province, no matter what banner he ran under.

Paul MacEwan was in palliative care in Sydney when he died on 2 May 2017.

Paul MacEwan was married to Carol Elizabeth Osborne and married Doreen Elizabeth Corbett in 1987.