Gordon Leonard Gosse Jr. (August 22, 1955 – November 14, 2019) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral districts of

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 parts ...

and

Sydney-Whitney Pier Sydney-Membertou is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. It was created in 2012 as Sydney-Whtiney Pier from 79% of Cape Breton Nova and 59% of Cape Breton South. Fo ...

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 ...

from 2003 to 2015. He was a member of 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 ...

Background

A native of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Whitney Pier Whitney Pier (2016 population: 4,612) is an urban neighbourhood in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Prior to the 20th century, this area was known as “Eastmount” or “South Sydney Harbour,” and had long been a fishing and farming district. It i ...

neighbourhood, Gosse was a third generation steel worker, having worked for

Sydney Steel Corporation Sydney Steel Corporation (SYSCO) was a Crown corporation in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It owned and operated a steel mill in Sydney. Early history of steelmaking in Sydney An integrated steel mill was established on the southeast side ...

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.

Political career

In 1999, Gosse successfully ran for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party nomination in the riding of Cape Breton Nova, but was defeated by incumbent

Paul MacEwan Paul MacEwan (April 8, 1943 – May 2, 2017) was a politician in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, and long-time member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly (MLA). Early life and education He was the son of Horace Frederick MacEwan and ...

in the 1999 provincial election. In 2003, Gosse was again nominated as the NDP candidate in the riding. He was elected in the 2003 provincial election, achieving 44.54% of the vote and winning by a margin of 74 votes. He was re-elected in the 2006 provincial election with 60.92%, an increase of 2521 votes. He was re-elected in the 2009 provincial election with 71.07% and a margin of 3186 votes over his closest challenger. 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. On January 19, 2011, Gosse was elected

Speaker of the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia The Speaker for the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia is the presiding Officer of the House of Assembly. Keith Bain is the current Speaker of the 64th General Assembly of Nova Scotia. The Speaker presides over the proceedings of the Assembly, maint ...

and held that position until October 24, 2013. 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 George Louis Chuvalo, CM (born September 12, 1937 as Jure Čuvalo) is a Canadian former professional boxer who was a five-time Canadian heavyweight champion and two-time world heavyweight title challenger. He is known for having never been kno ...

from his legislature colleagues in all three political parties. 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 Question Period (french: période des questions), known officially as Oral Questions (french: questions orales) occurs each sitting day in the House of Commons of Canada, in which members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (i ...

, stating that he would order the

Sergeant-at-Arms A serjeant-at-arms, or sergeant-at-arms, is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin ''serviens'', which means "servant". Historically, s ...

to confiscate any device should the rule be violated. On April 2, 2015, Gosse announced his resignation as MLA for health reasons, due to an

oropharyngeal cancer Oropharyngeal cancer (OPC), also known as oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) and tonsil cancer, is a disease in which abnormal cells with the potential to both grow locally and spread to other parts of the body are found in the oral ca ...

diagnosis. He died of cancer on November 14, 2019, in his hometown of

Sydney, Nova Scotia Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...

at the age of 64.

Election results

References

External links

NDP profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gosse, Gordie 1955 births 2019 deaths Nova Scotia New Democratic Party MLAs People from Sydney, Nova Scotia 21st-century Canadian politicians Speakers of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly Deaths from cancer in Nova Scotia

Background

Political career

Election results

See also

References

External links