Leonard Goucher (born September 19, 1947) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician, who represented the electoral district of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

in 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 ...

from 2006 to 2009. He is a member of the Progressive Conservatives. A town councilor in Bedford, Nova Scotia from 1988 to 1996, Goucher was elected to

Halifax Regional Council Halifax Regional Council () is the governing body of Halifax, known as the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Halifax is governed by a mayor-council system, where councillors are elected from sixteen geographic districts though a first-past-th ...

in 2000. He was re-elected in 2004 and served as Deputy Mayor of the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

. He entered provincial politics in the 2006 election, defeating Liberal leader Francis MacKenzie in the Bedford riding. In June 2006, Goucher was appointed to the

Executive Council of Nova Scotia The Executive Council of Nova Scotia (informally and more commonly, the Cabinet of Nova Scotia) is the cabinet of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Almost always made up of members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, the cabinet is s ...

as Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage. In October 2007, Goucher was shuffled to Minister of Immigration. In January 2009, he was given two additional roles in cabinet, becoming Minister of the Public Service Commission, and Minister of Seniors. In the 2009 election, Goucher was defeated by Liberal Kelly Regan. In February 2010, he became embroiled in a spending scandal involving inappropriate expenses charged to the public by a number of Nova Scotia MLAs. Goucher was singled out by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation when they highlighted Nova Scotian politicians for their "outrageous" expense claims, naming him the all-star of the scandal and giving him the nickname Len "the master of multi-tasking" Goucher. On February 14, 2011 the RCMP released its investigation results and he was cleared of any wrongdoing.

References

1947 births Living people Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia MLAs People from Bedford, Nova Scotia Members of the Executive Council of Nova Scotia Halifax Regional Municipality councillors 21st-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly {{ProgressiveConservative-NovaScotia-MLA-stub