- MacPolitics: Fact-Checking: NDP MLA Rod Wilson Claims To Be First Out Elected MLA In NS Legislature History – That’s Not True, John Chattaway Made History As First Out Gay Politician
By Andrew Macdonald
As Gay Pride takes place in Halifax, I see a written claim from first-term NDP MLA Dr. Rod Wilson stating he is the first elected out gay MLA in the history of the NS Legislature.
In an email invitation the good doctor sent out as part of a Pride celebration he hosted, Wilson made the claim that he is the first out gay man to become MLA.
“Dear friend and ally, “On Nov 26, I was elected as the MLA for Halifax Armdale. Little did I know I was also the first Out Gay Man to be elected in the history of the NS legislature,” he wrote. “I was following in the brave Queer foot steps of Lisa Lachance and Joanne Bernard.
“My life experiences ( good bad and all ) and 33 years of experience serving marginalized communities are a unique lens and voice I bring to the legislature. As you know, I firmly believe and advocate every one deserves to be heard and respected,” he wrote.
“To continue our work as a member of a fierce string opposition, I am asking for your help and support. I am hoping you can join Lisa and me at our 1st Annual Pride Fundraiser. Tickets are $125 at the door( no cash please), and a portion of the price is eligible for a tax receipt. Space is limited to 60 people.
While I have high hopes for NDPer Dr. Rod Wilson’s political career – and his ability to give voice to a marginalized society, and he is on the right political track to have since his Nov 2024 election as MLA to advocate that an anti-HIV daily pill that prevents HIV be given universal coverage in NS (see next story on that) let’s fact check his claim to be the first gay out MLA In NS history.
It’s simply not true.
That claim can historically go to a Tory politician elected in July 1999 as part of the John Hamm win as government.
I refer to John Chattaway, who was a Chester village and area MLA from 1999-2004.
In my political news career I met Chattaway when he was the Environment Minister with the Hamm government.
It was well known in Chester that he was gay and that he had a life partner who was male. It was no issue back then to be a member of society’s alternative set.
Chattaway died in 2004 from a stroke, sadly. He was only 57.
In 2017, The Macdonald Notebook reported on his life partner’s demise that year.
My headline: Chester Chatter: Ex-MLA Chataway’s Lover Leaves A Big Departing Gift
That year I wrote Danny Haughn, life partner of former Chester-St. Margaret’s Tory MLA, John Chataway, willed his South Shore farm to Chester Municipality.
Haughn, who was in his late 60s, died in February of 2017. Chataway, a John Hamm cabinet minister, died from a stroke in 2004.
Chester Municipality warden Allen Webber confirmed in 2017 that the municipality was bequeathed the 40-acre farm at Middle River in Marriott’s Cove.
But Webber says further, Tim Hortons talk in Chester that Haughn also left the local government $5 million is not true.
Webber says the money the municipality will inherit is more like three-quarters of a million dollars.
Haughn’s will had been probated in Bridgewater, but an inventory outlining cash holdings had not yet been completed when I looked at it that year.
Before he won his seat as MLA in the 1999 election, Chataway served as deputy warden of Chester Municipality.
An affable politician, Chataway had a large dream to locate an interpretative tourist centre on Oak Island, the famed South Shore island where pirates are said to have buried their loot and treasures.
During the Hamm regime, Chataway was among a number of Hamm functionaries who would unwind in the evening after a long day at the legislature at the former leading bar, Merrills, adjacent to Province House.
Those gathering to enjoy a beer back then included Hamm, bright lights Rob Batherson, David MacGregor, and ministers such as Angus ‘Tando’ MacIsaac. It was also a hangout for journalist Cliff Boutilier of Frank magazine.
Back then, I frequently had drinks at Merrills with Chataway, and the Hamm gang, and Chataway would discuss his love of living on the South Shore.
Contents of the 100-year-old home have also been bequeathed to the municipality.
“He owns some other assets, and all those assets are to be sold and put into a trust fund, which the municipality has preferred access to,” said Webber in 2017.
“He also owned a cottage and had some money in the bank,” he adds.
Another fact that the couple were public about their love of each other, their trust after death is named the Haughn-Chataway Trust, according to the will, which was signed in June 2015.
Chester lawyer Derek Wells, a former Liberal MP on the South Shore, represented Haughn in drafting the six-page will.
Haughn, who had no immediate survivors, and Chataway owned extensive residential rentals in Chester, Mahone Bay and Bridgewater. “Most of the rentals were sold previously,” said the warden.
“I expect we will take (the property), but there has been no decision by council (yet) to accept the gift, we are also allowed to sell it too. No decisions have been made.”
Webber had known Haughn and Chataway for years, and
says they always took an interest in the South Shore community, especially its heritage organizations, and the Chester library.
Haughn was also involved in local Tory politics.
“I spent a lot of Friday evenings with John and Danny having drinks down at their home at Marriott’s Cove,” said the warden in 2017 – further proof they lived a gay out lifestyle.
“That is part of the reason the property was left to the municipality.”
It is rare for a citizen to bequeath assets to the municipality, but 20 years ago, an individual left the Chester library house to the municipality, says Webber.
“It is not common practice…but there have been examples of that happening in the past,” the warden tells The Macdonald Notebook.
Webber says Haughn and Chataway “were very interesting individuals. They were very eccentric but had a lot of interest in supporting the community any way they could.”
So the first out gay MLA in Nova Scotia’s history is not NDP’s Doc Rod Wilson, but the honour goes to Chester’s John Chattaway.
Just saying, for political historical accuracy.
Given that Chattaway was a Tory MLA, Doc Rod Wilson can, instead, make the claim of being the NDP’s first ever out gay MLA in history, the first NDP gay out MLA.
NDP MLA Doctor Rod Wilson.
