John Buchanan, the folksy four-term premier of Nova Scotia, was known all over the province for his friendly demeanour and his ability to remember your name.
He parlayed that political acumen into a long political career, defeating Gerald Regan’s Liberals for his first term in 1978 and scoring three more majorities over the next 10 years.
Buchanan was 88 when he died on Thursday. He was premier from 1978 to 1990, joining his Conservative predecessor Bob Stanfield and a Liberal named George Henry Murray from the early 20th century as Nova Scotia’s only premiers to win four terms.
He was born in Sydney and got a law degree from Dalhousie in 1958. He was first elected to Nova Scotia’s legislature in 1967, presiding over the old riding of Halifax Atlantic from his two-storey home in Spryfield.
He and his wife Mavis had five children. The couple famously waved to traffic at the Armdale Rotary after election victories.
He was proud of his home province and never lost an opportunity to praise its charms to audiences. He was known to lead crowds in singing Out on the Mira any chance he got.
As current premier Stephen McNeil told reporters on Friday, “He was a true champion of Nova Scotia.”
News of his death had journalists and politicos all over Nova Scotia sharing stories on Friday about the former premier. There were many, but one seemed to capture both his personality and his political style.
TV cameras had caught him chortling about pulling off a coup on the eve of an election.
It was classic Buchanan, laughing in a low voice to a friend about how mad NDP Leader Alexa McDonough was going to be that he appointed her colleague Bob Levy to the bench.
That move, literally the day before he called an election in August 1988, reduced the NDP caucus to two and removed an effective critic of the government from the roster of his opponents.
He went on to win his fourth term in office in that election, only to fall victim to a series of political scandals and be forced out of office in 1990.
His avuncular charm and ability to work a crowd were the keys to his political success, but behind the scenes, his government was piling up debt and his caucus and cabinet were falling prey to corruption.
He had a hard time controlling his government’s spending, leaving $11 billion in debt that has handcuffed subsequent governments for decades.
Buchanan was implicated in allegations of patronage but an RCMP investigation ended in 1991 with no charges laid. By then, he had been appointed to the Senate by his friend, Brian Mulroney.
He served quietly in the Senate until 2006, when he retired.
Despite the scandals that ended his premiership, he remained open and friendly to the media and the public.
It was that openness that endeared him to the many Nova Scotians who kept voting for him.
