John Savage (politician)

Dr. John Patrick Savage, OC, ONS, MD, LL.D, (May 28, 1932—May 13, 2003) was premier of Nova Scotia, Canada between 1993 and 1997.

Welsh birth

Born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, and keeping his Welsh accent to the end, Savage graduated from The Queen's University of Belfast and practiced as a Medical doctor in Newport until he emigrated to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia in 1967.

Nova Scotia

He made a name for himself as the "hippie doctor" in the 1970s, setting up a detox centre, and a free clinic in the disadvantaged community of North Preston.

Entering politics in Nova Scotia

After unsuccessful tries as a Liberal Party candidate in two federal elections, he became Mayor of his home town of Dartmouth in 1985. While mayor, he received a reputation as a left-wing free spender.

In 1992, Savage decided to try his hand at provincial politics, running for the leadership of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party. Winning on the second ballot, Savage then defeated Donald Cameron and the governing Progressive Conservatives in the 1993 provincial election winning 40 of the legislature's 52 seats.

Premier

During his term as Premier, Savage, saddled with huge operating debts left by the previous government as well as declining equalization payments from the federal government of Jean Chrétien, changed his tone to a tough fiscal conservative, balancing the provincial budget in 1996 for the first time since 1978.

In doing so, he cut social spending drastically and cut the wages of thousands of civil servants. Other programs such as constructing a toll highway, municipal amalgamations by creating the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and the Halifax Regional Municipality, and the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax were initiated under his watch.

His government also led the country in the creation of tougher anti-smoking legislation, consolidation of school boards and local health authorities, creation of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, the establishment of one of the most modern emergency health services in North America along with province-wide emergency field communications systems, and he waged a tough and ultimately successful fight against an entrenched patronage system in the provincial Department of Transportation and Public Works, as well as within his own political party.

Savage's detractors labelled him as inexperienced and stubborn. Faced with increasing discontent from within his own party over some of his anti-patronage policies, he resigned as premier in 1997.

After politics

After Savage resigned, he and his wife travelled to Africa to perform missionary work.

Death

In 2001, he acknowledged he had stomach cancer, which spread throughout his body until his death on May 13, 2003. Just three days before his death, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He died in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Further reading

* Clancy, Peter; Bickerton, James; Haddow, Rodney and Stewart, Ian. (2000) "The Savage Years: The Perils of Reinventing Government in Nova Scotia". Halifax: Formac Publishing Company Limited.

External links

* [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=9769 Order of Canada citation]