- MacPolitics: Mike Savage Patronage Plum, Part II – Here’s Proof The Macdonald Notebook Gets It First & Gets It Accurate
By Andrew Macdonald
Want proof The Macdonald Notebook gets it first and gets it accurate?
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage, with Bassam ‘Sam’ Nahas, a property developer and owner of the King of Donair franchise, in Halifax. The Notebook file photo.
Regarding the serious chatter that Mike Savage is going to become the next NS Lieutenant Governor, back on Sept 2nd, 2024 we reported Savage was among the candidates in the running to take on the post.
That Sept 2nd, 2024 story also reported Art LeBlanc’s days at Government House were coming to an end after he spent eight years as Lieutenant Governor.
For the record, here is that Sept 2nd 2024 story:
MacPolitics: Art LeBlanc’s Time As NS Lieutenant Governor Could End Rather Soon – Meet The Leading Successors – Published in The Macdonald Notebook, Sept 2nd, 2024
By Andrew Macdonald
A clue about how long Art LeBlanc will continue as Nova Scotia Lieutenant-Governor can be seen from Prince Edward Island.
After a seven-year run as PEI Lt. Gov Antoinette Perry has been replaced by new PEI Lt. Governor, Dr. Wassim Salamoun.
PM Justin Trudeau made that appointment in August, in a statement which indicated the normal term of office for a Lt. Gov is “five years”.
Salamoun replaces Perry, who has been in the post since 2017. See a separate story on Salamoun’s deep Antigonish connections.
Now 79, Art Leblanc is in The Macdonald Notebook news cycle because he is on borrowed time as Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor.
His original five-year term expired in June of 2022.
That month in 2017 he was appointed to the post. The same year Trudeau appointed Perry over in PEI.
It is obvious that Justin Trudeau’s PMO, which made the 2017 appointment, has extended the term of office for LeBlanc for the time being.
But the $64,000 question is how long is the extension going to run?
There is also chatter that retired Senator Dan Christmas, a leader in the Mi’kmaq community, could become the next NS Lieutenant Governor. Christmas shocked politicos by retiring from the Senate of Canada last December.
NS Lieutenant Governor Art LeBlanc, with his spouse Patsy LeBlanc. (NS Gov photo).
A new candidate would be named by the PMO. Leading contenders also include soon-to-retire Bedford Basin MLA Kelly Regan, and others are chatting about Halifax Mayor Mike Savage.
Former House Speaker Geoff Regan with his wife and former Minister of Community Services, Kelly Regan. Kelly Regan is being chatted about by politicos as the next NS lieutenant governor. The Notebook photo.
Given the new Lt. Gov over in PEI was born in Lebanon and becomes the first Maritime Lt. Gov with Lebanese heritage, I wonder if that hurts Halifax developer Wadih Fares as a contender for NS Lt. Gov.
LeBlanc has held that job as the Queen’s representative since 2017, when he was appointed to the job by then-Liberal power broker Scott Brison.
Outgoing Halifax Mayor Mike Savage drew cheers from onlookers in the 2024 St. Patrick’s Day Parade, as one parade attendee yelled, “Mayor Mike, don’t go!” The political chattering class suggests Savage could become the next NS lieutenant governor (The Notebook).
LeBlanc, whose spouse is well-known community volunteer Patsy – the couple has three adult children, hit the all-time Liberal patronage award when he was named as Lt. Gov by Brison.
He also got a Liberal plum from a different Liberal gov in Ottawa, when he was named to the bench as a NS Supreme Court judge.
Art LeBlanc, a former Liberal Allan J MacEachen bagman was installed as Lt. Gov in June 2017.
When he got the Brison plum as LT. Gov, he was installed in 2017, feted by the Canadian Armed Forces military band and a 15-gun salute at an invite-only affair at Province House.
Michael MacDonald, the province’s chief justice presided over the historic ceremony, where outgoing Lt Gov John J. Grant presented LeBlanc with the keys to his new home at Government House.
LeBlanc is the first Acadian to hold the post.
He is paid a salary of $144,000, and occupies historic Government House, then trading in his daily travels aboard Metro Transit bus to get to the Law Courts, and now gets around in a fancy government-funded limo with a personal driver.
A portrait of political Titan Allan J. MacEachen, painted in the 1970s – notice the sideburns. Allan J. saw to it in 1984 that John B. Stewart would get a Senate seat. The Notebook photo.
LeBlanc said in 2017 that he would donate a portion of his lieutenant governor salary to an unspecified university. He attended both ST FX and Dalhousie University in the 1960s.
On top of his lieutenant governor salary, at 79-years-of-age he collects an Old Age Pension and a judge’s pension for service of the last 20 years.
He did not specify how much of his salary would be donated to post-secondary institutions.
Louise Carbert, a political science professor at Dalhousie University, poses with Nova Scotia governor general Art LeBlanc. Carbert’s work has included extensive research about the role women in rural communities play in Canadian politics
He and Patsy have a nine-person staff for administration, catering, housekeeping and driving services.
In 2017, I reported he traded in his bagged lunches – often carrying sandwiches to the Halifax Law Courts in Sobey grocery bags – for a paid chef.
LeBlanc is a member of the still-influential Allan J Club consisting of Liberal folk who once worked as aides or were closely associated with the wily Allan J. MacEachen when he was the region’s most powerful politician in the 1970s government of Pierre Trudeau.
LeBlanc was a bagman to Cape Bretoner MacEachen, who died the other year at 96, and who maintained homes in Ottawa, Antigonish and his fave oasis at Lake Ainslie.
Many considered LeBlanc’s judicial appointment in 1998 was engineered by MacEachen.
LeBlanc is a former 30-year-long Port Hawkesbury lawyer, who once owned a trailer park in the Strait region. He previously worked with LeBlanc MacDonald Pickup and LeBlanc.
A box of Cuban cigars, with the description “Specially Made for Allan J. MacEachen”. The Notebook photo.
He is married to Patsy (Nee: Lirette), of Beresford, New Brunswick. The couple has three adult children, sons, Pierre, Andre and Robert.
They formerly lived in a condo in leafy Halifax Southend, and often LeBlanc took the bus to work at the Upper Water Street Court House.
NS Lieutenant Governor Art LeBlanc and his spouse, Patsy.
Art LeBlanc was appointed as NS Lieutenant Governor in 2017 for a five-year term. PM Justin Trudeau extended the term and there is now chatter the extended term could expire this year. (NS Gov).
Funding for Government House is provided by the province and the federal government.
