Gerald Augustine Paul Regan (February 13, 1928 – November 26, 2019) was a Canadian politician (as federal MP and later as Nova Scotia MLA), who served as the 19th premier of Nova Scotia from 1970 to 1978.

Early life and education

Regan was born in

Windsor, Nova Scotia Windsor is a community located in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Nova Scotia Highway 101, Highway 101. The community has a history d ...

, of partial Irish descent, the son of Rose Mary (née Greene) and Walter Edward Regan. He graduated from Dalhousie Law School and was admitted to the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society in 1954.

Legal career

He became one of the region's best known labour lawyers, and his high-profile image led to an invitation to enter politics.

Political career

He was first elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in the 1963 federal election. He resigned his seat in 1965 when he was named leader of the

Nova Scotia Liberal Party The Nova Scotia Liberal Party (officially the Liberal Association of Nova Scotia) is a Centrist politics, centrist provincial political party in Nova Scotia, Canada and the provincial section of the Liberal Party of Canada. The party currently hol ...

. Regan entered the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (; ), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia, and together with the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia makes up the Nova Scotia Legislature. The assembly is ...

in 1967, and aggressively pursued the government of

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

George Isaac Smith as

Leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

. Regan led a fourteen-hour

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent a decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking ...

against the government's plans to increase the sales tax in 1969. Regan's Liberals won a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, and were re-elected with a

majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

. As

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

, Regan supported industrialization and the development of offshore gas and oil. His first government amended the province's labour code to prevent courts from issuing injunctions to prevent picketing in labour disputes, and the office of the provincial ombudsman was established. In its second term, the Regan government nationalized the Nova Scotia Light and Power electrical utility, and consolidated electricity supply under the Nova Scotia Power Corporation. A massive plan for the development of tidal power in the Bay of Fundy was also announced. His government was defeated by John Buchanan's Progressive Conservative Party in the 1978 general election, in part due to the oil shock's effect on the economy. Regan returned to the federal House of Commons in the 1980 federal election, and was appointed Minister of Labour and Minister of State for International Trade in the Cabinet of Prime Minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

. Regan was defeated along with the Liberal government in the 1984 election.

Criminal charges and controversy

On October 27, 1993,

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

revealed that the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

were investigating Regan for sexual misconduct. In March 1995 and May 1995 he was charged with a total of nineteen counts of sexual offences. As of April 2, 1998, there were eighteen charges, but nine were stayed by Justice J. Michael MacDonald of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Regan ultimately faced trial on eight charges including rape, attempted rape and forcible confinement, for crimes allegedly committed in 1956 and 1969 against victims aged 14 and 18 at the time. On December 18, 1998, he was acquitted on all eight charges by a jury. On September 10, 1999, by a margin of 2–1, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal reinstated the nine stayed charges regarding alleged incidents in the mid-1960s and '70s involving girls and women aged 14 to 24 at the time; two were later dropped, but the others were to be tried together with the other remaining charge. The ruling reinstating the charges was upheld in a 5–4 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in February 2002. But in April 2002, the crown attorney's office announced that it would not continue prosecution on the remaining charges of sexual assault due to the age of the allegations, the cost and the age of the defendant.

Personal life

Regan's wife was Anita Carole Thomas (Harrison), whose father,

John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was an English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the History of longitude, problem of how to calculate longitude while at sea. Harrison's sol ...

, was a Saskatchewan Liberal Member of Parliament. They had six children, including Geoff Regan, 36th

Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada The speaker of the House of Commons () is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. A member of Parliament (MP), a speaker is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow MPs. The speaker's role in pre ...

, who also served as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in the government of

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. Th ...

from 2000 until 2006, and who served as MP for

Halifax West Halifax West () is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. Its population in 2021 was 111,944. Demographics ''According to the 2021 Canadian census, 2023 r ...

; Nancy Regan, a local television personality with ATV; and Laura Regan, an actress. Regan died on November 26, 2019, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Regan, Gerald 1928 births 2019 deaths Canadian people of Irish descent Schulich School of Law alumni Lawyers in Nova Scotia Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the 22nd Canadian Ministry Members of the 23rd Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Nova Scotia Liberal Party MLAs People from Windsor, Nova Scotia Premiers of Nova Scotia

Gerald Gerald is a masculine given name derived from the Germanic languages prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Gerald is a Norman French variant of the Germanic name. An Old English equivalent name was Garweald, the likely original ...

Nova Scotia political party leaders 20th-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada