Alexa Ann McDonough ( Shaw; August 11, 1944 – January 15, 2022) was a Canadian politician who became the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Nova Scotia, when she was elected the
Nova Scotia New Democratic Party
The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is a social-democratic, progressive provincial party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the provincial entity of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP). It was founded as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C ...
's (NSNDP) leader in 1980.
McDonough served as a member of the Nova Scotia Legislature from 1981 to 1994, representing the
Halifax Chebucto
Halifax Chebucto is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
It is one of several ridings within the Halifax Regional Municipality. It encompasses the neighbourhood kn ...
and
Halifax Fairview
Halifax Armdale is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. This Halifax district covers the growing population of the Fairmount, Armdale and Cowie Hill areas. The north ...
electoral districts. She stepped down as the NSNDP's leader and as a member of the legislature in 1994. She subsequently ran for, and was elected, leader of the federal
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
(NDP) in 1995. McDonough was elected the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
the federal electoral district of Halifax in 1997. She stepped down as party leader in 2003, but continued to serve as an MP for two more terms, until 2008, when she retired from politics altogether. In 2009, she became the interim president of
Mount Saint Vincent University
Mount Saint Vincent University, often referred to as the Mount, is a public, primarily undergraduate, university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was established in 1873. Mount Saint Vincent offers undergraduate programs in Arts, S ...
and was appointed an
Officer of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
in December of that year.
Early life and education
McDonough was born Alexa Ann Shaw in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, on August 11, 1944, at the
Ottawa Civic Hospital
The Ottawa Civic Hospital is one of three main campuses of The Ottawa Hospital – along with the General and Riverside campuses. With 549 beds (including the Heart Institute), the Civic Campus has the region's only adult-care trauma centre, servin ...
. Her parents were Jean MacKinnon and
Lloyd Robert Shaw, a wealthy businessman who was committed to progressive politics.
He served as the first research director for the federal NDP's predecessor, the national
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...
(CCF),
and was an early financial backer of the NDP when it formed in 1961.
McDonough was involved in social activism from an early age, when, at 14, she led her church youth group in publicizing the conditions of
Africville, a low-income, predominantly Black neighbourhood in
Halifax.
She attended
Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, which was her family's ''
alma mater''.
After two-years, she transferred to
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...
in Halifax, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and psychology in 1965.
She became a social worker and, during the
1970 Nova Scotia general election, worked for
Gerald Regan
Gerald Augustine Paul Regan (February 13, 1928 – November 26, 2019) was a Canadian politician (as Member of Parliament (Canada), federal MP and later as Nova Scotia House of Assembly, Nova Scotia MLA), who served as the 19th premier of Nova Sc ...
's Liberal Party, writing that party's social policy platform.
She quickly became disenchanted with Regan and the Liberals, and joined the New Democratic Party in 1974.
Provincial leadership
McDonough's first foray into electoral politics occurred during the
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
and
1980 federal elections.
[
] In both of those elections, she ran unsuccessfully in the federal
riding of Halifax.
In the 1980 federal election, she lost to former Nova Scotia premier Gerald Regan,
the same politician that she once supported back in 1970.
Just after the 1980 federal election, in the spring,
Jeremy Akerman
Jeremy Bernard Akerman (born May 28, 1942) is a former Canadian politician, writer and actor and a former leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.
__TOC__
Early life
Akerman was born in Alvechurch, Worcesteshire, United Kingdom. He was ...
stepped down as the Nova Scotia NDP's leader. At this time, there was a growing rift between the Cape Breton Island and Mainland wings of the party.
[
] This rift exploded in June, when
Paul MacEwan, the NDP MLA for
Cape Breton Nova
Cape Breton Nova is a former provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada which existed between 1956 and 2013. It elected one member to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. In its last configuration, the district included the northern part ...
, was expelled from the party due to his constant public airing of internal party disputes, including the implication that Akerman resigned due to "Trotskyist elements" from the mostly mainland-based provincial council.
[
] To make this situation worse for an incoming leader, the NDP's four MLAs, all from Cape Breton constituencies, voted 3–1 to keep him in the caucus, with
Len J. Arsenault
Linus Joseph "Len" Arsenault (March 24, 1934 – February 21, 1999) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton North in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1978 to 1981. He was a member of the Nova Scotia ...
– the MLA for
Cape Breton North – being the only negative vote.
[
] MacEwan's expulsion became one of the dominant issues during the leadership race that fall.
In late September, Akerman was appointed to a top Nova Scotia civil service job that required him to both resign from the Legislature and terminate his membership in the NDP.
[
] James 'Buddy' MacEachern, a leadership candidate, and MLA for
Cape Breton Centre, was made the interim leader on October 2.
Despite these internecine battles, and not having a seat in the
Nova Scotia House of Assembly
The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...
, McDonough decided to enter the leadership race. The other candidate in the race to replace Akerman was Arsenault.
[
] The leadership convention was convened in Halifax, with the leadership vote held on November 16, 1980.
McDonough received 237 votes, compared to Arsenault's 42 votes, and MacEachern's 41 votes, giving her a first ballot landslide victory.
As a result of her victory, she became the first woman in Canada to lead a major recognized political party.
[
][
]
McDonough's first order of business was to settle the Paul MacEwan question. On December 9, 1980, she managed to get her former leadership rivals to vote MacEwan out of the caucus and party.
[
] Since she did not have a seat in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, the party was left with just two seats, because MacEwan was now an independent, and Akerman's seat was left vacant due to his resignation. For almost a year, she would sit in the Assembly's visitors gallery until she could run for a seat in the
1981 Nova Scotia general election. McDonough's first provincial election as leader was fought in the
Halifax Chebucto
Halifax Chebucto is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
It is one of several ridings within the Halifax Regional Municipality. It encompasses the neighbourhood kn ...
riding, where the Liberals and Conservatives were more or less evenly matched in terms of voter support, and the NDP was a distant third in the previous election.
[
] McDonough won her seat, the first one for the NDP in Mainland Nova Scotia, but the NDP lost all of its
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18. ...
seats in the process.
She spent the next three years as the only New Democrat, and the only woman in the House of Assembly.
[
] She took on the "old boys' network", that permeated Nova Scotia's politics at the time, by attempting to dismantle the province's entrenched patronage system.
McDonough was personally popular throughout Nova Scotia, consistently being the voters' top choice in leadership polls, but her popularity did not rub off on the party.
She led the party through three more elections, eventually building the caucus up to three members: all from the mainland, including future Nova Scotia NDP leader,
Robert Chisholm.
After fourteen years as the Nova Scotia NDP leader, which at the time made her the longest-serving leader of a major political party, she stepped down on November 19, 1994.
John Holm
John Edgar Holm (born April 19, 1947) is a Canadian politician from Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia in the Halifax Regional Municipality. He represented the electoral districts of Sackville, and Sackville-Cobequid in the Nova Scotia House of Assemb ...
, the NDP's
Sackville-Cobequid
Sackville—Cobequid is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
The riding was created in 1978 when the former district of Halifax Cobequid was redistributed. In 1993 ...
MLA, took over as interim leader, until Chisholm was elected leader in 1996.
[
]
Federal leadership
As the fortunes of the Nova Scotia NDP were slowly rising during the mid-1990s, the same could not be said of its federal counterpart. The
1993 Canadian federal election
The 1993 Canadian federal election was held on October 25, 1993, to elect members to the House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Considered to be a major political realignment, it was one of the most eventful elections in Canada's hist ...
was an unmitigated disaster for the NDP.
[
] Under
Audrey McLaughlin
Audrey Marlene McLaughlin (née Brown; born November 8, 1936) is a Canadian politician and former leader of the New Democratic Party from 1989 to 1995. She was the first female leader of a political party with representation in the House of Co ...
's leadership, the party suffered its worst defeat since the late 1950s, in terms of seats, when it was then called the CCF.
When looking at the popular vote, it was the worst ever election for a federal social-democratic party in the 20th century, with just seven percent of the vote.
The party only had nine seats, three short of the twelve seats needed to have official party status in the House of Commons, and all the extra funding, research, office space and Question Period privileges it accords.
In the aftermath of the 1993 election, the party set about reforming its policies and purpose, with McLaughlin announcing on April 18, 1994, that she would step down as leader by 1996.
[
] McLaughlin, faced with internal squabbles similar to those that occurred in the Nova Scotia party back in 1980, advanced her departure from the end of 1996 to the end of 1995.
[
] With an internal party atmosphere that could best be described as toxic,
McDonough entered the leadership race in the spring of 1995. The conditions were similar to the ones she faced during her first leadership campaign in 1980: a divided party that was self-immolating.
[ However, the party was also hobbled by unpopular provincial NDP governments in ]Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. Indeed, the NDP had suffered particularly severe losses in those two provinces at the federal level in 1993, losing all of its Ontario MPs, and all but two of its British Columbia MPs, more than half of its caucus.[
Prior to the NDP leadership convention on October 14, 1995, McDonough was widely viewed as an also-ran behind the leading contenders, ]Svend Robinson
Svend Robinson (born March 4, 1952) is a Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2004, who represented suburban Vancouver-area constituencies of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party (NDP). He is noted as the first me ...
and Lorne Nystrom
Lorne Edmund Nystrom, (born April 26, 1946) is a Canadian politician and was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 2004. He is a member of the New Democratic Party. Nystrom has been a prominent figu ...
, but at the convention she placed second on the first ballot, ahead of Nystrom in what was almost a three-way split.[
] Although Robinson had placed first on that ballot, he felt that most of Nystrom's supporters would go to McDonough on the second ballot, giving her the victory. Thus, he conceded to McDonough before a second ballot could be held. On a motion by Robinson, the convention formally acclaimed McDonough as the party's new leader. McDonough became the first person from Atlantic Canada to lead a major party since Robert Stanfield
Robert Lorne Stanfield (April 11, 1914 – December 16, 2003) was a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967 and the leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative ...
retired as the Progressive Conservatives' leader in 1976.[
] Unusually for a major-party leader, she did not have one of her MPs in a safe seat resign so she could get into Parliament via a by-election, opting instead to make a third bid for her home riding of Halifax in the next general election.
In the 1997 election, her first as leader, the party won 21 seats. This included a historic breakthrough in the Atlantic provinces, a region where it had only won three seats in its entire history prior to 1997. McDonough herself won Halifax by 11,000 votes, pushing Liberal incumbent Mary Clancy
Mary Catherine Clancy (born 13 January 1948) is a Canadian former politician and former lawyer. She was the Member of Parliament representing Halifax from 1988 to 1997.
Career
Clancy won the Halifax electoral district for the Liberal Party in ...
into third place. She would continue to win it consecutively three more times until she retired from politics in 2008.
During the next few years, McDonough's leadership of the party elicited controversy.[
] Union leaders were lukewarm in their support of her, often threatening to break away from the NDP, in particular the Canadian Auto Workers
The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW; formally the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada) was one of Canada's largest and highest profile labour unions. In 2013, it merged with the Communications, Energy and ...
' president Buzz Hargrove
Basil Eldon "Buzz" Hargrove, (born March 8, 1944) is a Canadian labour leader and the former National President of the Canadian Auto Workers. He is currently serving as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University's Ted R ...
.[
] She was widely seen within the NDP as trying to pull the party toward the centre of the political spectrum, in the Third Way
The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from a ...
mode of Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
[
] although when she made her leader's speech at the party's August 1999 Ottawa policy convention, she attempted to distance herself from "Third Way" policies by stating: "We must lay out a new way for Canadians to navigate in the 21st century. Not an old way, not a 'third way', but a made-in-Canada way...."[
] A vote on a resolution to adopt Third Way policies in the party's platform formally was defeated, as many union leaders opposed it and McDonough's "Canadian Way".[
]
The Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...
and its new leader, Stockwell Day
Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (born August 16, 1950) is a Canadian former politician who led the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
A provincial cabinet minister from Alberta, Day served as minister ...
, presented a further challenge to McDonough's NDP. Fearful of the prospect of an Alliance government, many NDP supporters moved to the Liberals. As well, two NDP MPs, Angela Vautour
Angela Vautour (born April 10, 1960) is a former Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Beauséjour—Petitcodiac in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2000.
Vautour was elected in the 1997 election as a New ...
and Rick Laliberte
Rick Laliberte (born September 13, 1958) is a Canadian former politician. Laliberte was a Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament for the riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, Churchill River, a riding that encompasses t ...
, crossed the floor
Crossed may refer to:
* ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis
* ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie
* "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead''
S ...
to other party caucuses, reducing the NDP caucus to 19 seats. In the 2000 federal election, the NDP was held to just 13 seats, and its 8.5 percent of the popular vote, was near its historic low from the 1993 campaign. About the only solace the NDP and McDonough could take from the 2000 campaign was that they kept official party status in the House of Commons (if only barely), unlike McLaughlin in the 1993 campaign.
After the disappointing performance in the 2000 federal election, there were more calls for party renewal. Some party activists perceived that the NDP had moved to the centre of the political spectrum and wanted to change that by bringing in social/political activists outside of the parliamentary process. They called their movement the New Politics Initiative
The New Politics Initiative (NPI) was a faction of Canada's New Democratic Party. It was generally viewed to be further left than Alexa McDonough's leadership, but not as far left as the Socialist Caucus.
The NPI believed that the NDP was movin ...
, or NPI.[
] Another group, called NDProgress
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. Widely described as Social democracy, social democratic,The party is widely described as soci ...
, wanted to reform the party's internal structures, with procedural changes to how leaders were elected and limiting how much control Labour Unions had in the party. The NPI proposal to create a new party from the ashes of the NDP, was opposed by McDonough, and by former NDP leader, Ed Broadbent.[
] The NPI resolution was voted down when it was presented at the party's November 2001 Winnipeg policy convention. NDProgress's resolution to have a "one member one vote" election for party leader, with a provision to limit organized labour's allotment of ballots to a maximum of 25 percent, passed. The 2001 Winnipeg convention was also where McDonough easily defeated a leadership challenge by Socialist Caucus
The New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus is an unofficial left-wing faction within Canada's New Democratic Party.
Its manifesto maintains that the New Democratic Party has moved too far to the right, and is in danger of becoming indistinguishabl ...
member Marcel Hatch, who was also an NPI supporter.[
]
The issue that highlighted McDonough's federal leadership, occurred during the twilight of her career: the fight against Islamophobia
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...
and general anti-Arab sentiment, which swept through Canada and the United States in the wake of the 9/11
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
attacks in September 2001. She led the charge on the national scene to repatriate Mahar Arar, an Arab-Canadian who was wrongly detained as a terrorist by United States border officials, on an erroneous tip from Canada's secret service.[
] Throughout 2002 and 2003, McDonough campaigned for his release. When he was released, his wife, Monia Mazigh
Monia Mazigh ( ar, منية مازيغ) (born 1970) is a Canadian author and academic best known for her efforts to free her husband Maher Arar from a Syrian prison. A resident of Ottawa, Ontario, she was the New Democratic Party candidate for ...
, joined the NDP and became a candidate for them in the 2004 federal election, out of recognition for the support McDonough and the party showed for her and her husband.
With Brian Masse's May 2002 by-election victory, in the Windsor West
Windsor West (french: Windsor-Ouest) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. Geography
The district consists of the part of the city of Windsor lying west an ...
riding, the party's caucus grew to 14 members. A few weeks later, on June 5, 2002, McDonough used this positive turn in electoral fortunes to announce that she was stepping down as NDP leader. On January 25, 2003, at the Toronto leadership convention, she was succeeded by Jack Layton
John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...
. She was re-elected to Parliament in the 2004 federal election and again in 2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
. In the NDP's shadow cabinet, McDonough served as the critic for International Development, International Cooperation and Peace Advocacy.
Retirement
On June 2, 2008, McDonough announced that she would not run again in the riding of Halifax in the next federal election. She made the announcement at the Lord Nelson Hotel
The Lord Nelson Hotel & Suites, commonly referred to as the Lord Nelson Hotel, is a Canada's grand railway hotels, grand hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located on the corner of Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Spri ...
, the same place where she celebrated her 1997 victory as the MP for Halifax. McDonough said that she would continue on as the MP for Halifax until the next federal election.
On June 29, 2009, it was announced that McDonough was named the new interim president of Mount Saint Vincent University
Mount Saint Vincent University, often referred to as the Mount, is a public, primarily undergraduate, university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was established in 1873. Mount Saint Vincent offers undergraduate programs in Arts, S ...
, in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
. Her one-year appointment began in August 2009. It was announced on December 30, 2009, that she was to be appointed an officer of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
for her pioneering work as both the Nova Scotia and Federal leader of the New Democratic Party. She received an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws degree from Acadia University
Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...
, in Wolfville
Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School.
The town is a tourist destination du ...
, Nova Scotia on May 13, 2012.
Personal life and death
McDonough's first marriage was in 1966 to Halifax lawyer, Peter McDonough (April 1, 1940 – November 17, 2021), with whom she had two sons: Justin and Travis. In 1993, she separated from McDonough, later divorcing him; she said her political career did not play a part in it. In 1994, just before she stepped down as Nova Scotia leader, she had a hysterectomy, and waited until she recuperated before she announced her resignation. During her time as leader of the federal NDP, McDonough was romantically involved with David MacDonald, a former Progressive Conservative (PC) MP for Toronto Centre—Rosedale
Toronto Centre (french: Toronto-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1872 to 1925, and since 1935, under the names Centre Toronto (1872–1903) ...
and a cabinet minister. MacDonald ran as the NDP candidate in Toronto Centre—Rosedale in the 1997 election; in the previous election, he was the PC incumbent, and like every other PC candidate in Ontario in 1993, was defeated. The pair split up prior to the 2004 federal election.[
]
On May 3, 2013, McDonough announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
about four months earlier during a mammogram
Mammography (also called mastography) is the process of using low-energy X-rays (usually around 30 kVp) to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through d ...
. She had been receiving treatment.[
]
McDonough died at a long-term care home in Halifax, on January 15, 2022, at the age of 77. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
in the seven years prior to her death.[
]
Electoral record
Source:
Source:
Source:
Source:
Source:
Source:
References
Specific
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonough, Alexa
1944 births
2022 deaths
20th-century Canadian politicians
20th-century Canadian women politicians
21st-century Canadian politicians
21st-century Canadian women politicians
Canadian Baptists
Canadian activists
Canadian university and college chief executives
Canadian women activists
Dalhousie University alumni
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
Female Canadian political party leaders
Leaders of the Nova Scotia CCF/NDP
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia
Members of the Order of Nova Scotia
Mount Saint Vincent University
NDP and CCF leaders
Deaths from dementia in Canada
New Democratic Party MPs
Nova Scotia New Democratic Party MLAs
Officers of the Order of Canada
Politicians from Ottawa
Women MLAs in Nova Scotia
Women members of the House of Commons of Canada