Gordie Gosse

Gordon Leonard Gosse Jr. (August 22, 1955 – November 14, 2019) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral districts of Cape Breton Nova and Sydney-Whitney Pier in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2003 to 2015. He was a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.[1]

Gordie Gosse
Speaker of the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia
In office
January 19, 2011 – October 24, 2013
PremierDarrell Dexter
Lieutenant GovernorJohn J. Grant
Preceded byCharlie Parker
Succeeded byKevin Murphy
Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
for Sydney-Whitney Pier
Cape Breton Nova (2003-2013)
In office
August 5, 2003 – April 2, 2015
Preceded byPaul MacEwan
Succeeded byDerek Mombourquette
Personal details
Born
Gordon Leonard Gosse Jr.

August 22, 1955
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died (aged 64)
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Political partyNew Democratic Party
SpouseSusan Gosse
Children2
OccupationYouth worker

Background

A native of Sydney's Whitney Pier neighbourhood, Gosse was a third generation steel worker, having worked for Sydney Steel Corporation for 18 years. An amateur athlete, Gosse also worked as a youth worker and served as Executive Director of the Whitney Pier Youth Club for 10 years.[2]

Political career

In 1999, Gosse successfully ran for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party nomination in the riding of Cape Breton Nova,[3] but was defeated by incumbent Paul MacEwan in the 1999 provincial election.[4] In 2003, Gosse was again nominated as the NDP candidate in the riding.[5] He was elected in the 2003 provincial election, achieving 44.54% of the vote and winning by a margin of 74 votes.[6] He was re-elected in the 2006 provincial election with 60.92%, an increase of 2521 votes.[7] He was re-elected in the 2009 provincial election with 71.07% and a margin of 3186 votes over his closest challenger.[8][9] The riding of Cape Breton Nova was abolished following the 2012 electoral boundaries review. Gosse was re-elected in the new riding of Sydney-Whitney Pier in the 2013 provincial election with 49.37% and a margin of 550 votes over his closest challenger.[10]

On January 19, 2011, Gosse was elected Speaker of the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia and held that position until October 24, 2013.[11] While serving as Speaker, Gosse also served as Chair of the House of Assembly Management Commission as well as Chair of the Assembly Matters Committee. In appreciation for his work as Speaker of the House, Gosse was gifted a pair of boxing gloves signed by Canadian former heavyweight boxing champ, George Chuvalo from his legislature colleagues in all three political parties.[12] While serving as Speaker, Gosse implemented a strict policy banning the use of mobile devices, including smart phones in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly during Question Period, stating that he would order the Sergeant-at-Arms to confiscate any device should the rule be violated.[13]

On April 2, 2015, Gosse announced his resignation as MLA for health reasons, due to an oropharyngeal cancer diagnosis.[14] He died of cancer on November 14, 2019, in his hometown of Sydney, Nova Scotia at the age of 64.[15]

Election results
2013 Nova Scotia general election: Sydney-Whitney Pier
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticGordie Gosse5,08449.37−5.25
LiberalDerek Mombourquette4,53444.03+8.80
Progressive ConservativeLeslie MacPhee6806.60−1.79
Total valid votes 10,29899.40
Total rejected ballots 620.60
Turnout 10,36057.86
Electors on the lists 17,906–
New Democratic hold Swing −7.03
Source(s)
"Voters in two Cape Breton ridings head to polls Tuesday". Cape Breton Post. July 13, 2015.

See also

References
  1. "Electoral History for Sydney-Whitney Pier" (PDF). Nova Scotia Legislative Library. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  2. "Whitney Pier Youth Club". whitneypier.org. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
  3. "Gosse NDP hopeful in Cape Breton Nova". The Chronicle Herald. June 30, 1999. Archived from the original on January 24, 2005. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  4. "Complete Poll By Poll Results - Cape Breton Nova" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. 1999. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  5. "Cape Breton Nova votes for the man, not the party". The Chronicle Herald. July 26, 2003. Archived from the original on January 24, 2005. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  6. "Complete Poll By Poll Results - Cape Breton Nova" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. 2003. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  7. "Complete Poll By Poll Results - Cape Breton Nova" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. 2006. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  8. "Complete Poll By Poll Results - Cape Breton Nova" (PDF). Elections Nova Scotia. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 18, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  9. "Gosse wins in Nova; eager to be part of province's first NDP government". Cape Breton Post. June 10, 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
  10. "Gosse elected in Sydney-Whitney Pier". Cape Breton Post. October 8, 2013. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  11. "Gosse declared Speaker of N.S. legislature". CBC News. January 19, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  12. "Gosse gets gift of gloves to gird up for House spats". The Chronicle Herald. April 29, 2012. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
  13. "N.S. MLAs warned to put away BlackBerrys". CBC News. May 2, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  14. "NDP MLAs Gordie Gosse, Frank Corbett resign". The Chronicle Herald. April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  15. "Tributes pour in for former Cape Breton MLA Gordie Gosse". CBC News. November 14, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
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