View source for Gerald Regan

{{Short description|Premier of Nova Scotia from 1970 to 1978}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = Gerald Regan
|birth_name={{nowrap|Gerald Augustine Paul Regan<ref name=newsp1>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19561030&id=-PgxAAAAIBAJ&pg=7245,3637161|title=Ottawa Citizen – Google News Archive Search|access-date=January 27, 2017}}</ref>}}
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|QC|ECNS|size=100%}}
| image               = Gerald Regan portrait.jpg
| caption             = Regan, {{circa|1972}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1928|2|13}}
| birth_place         = [[Windsor, Nova Scotia]], Canada
| resides             = 
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2019|11|26|1928|2|13}}
| death_place         = [[Bedford, Nova Scotia]], Canada{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}
| order               = 
| office              = 19th [[Premier of Nova Scotia]]
| term_start          = October 28, 1970
| term_end            = October 5, 1978
| monarch             = [[Elizabeth II]]
| lieutenant_governor = [[Victor de Bedia Oland]]<br />[[Clarence Gosse]]
| predecessor         = [[George Isaac Smith|G.&nbsp;I. Smith]]
| successor           = [[John Buchanan (Canadian politician)|John Buchanan]]
| office2             = [[Nova Scotia House of Assembly|MLA]] for [[Halifax Needham]]
| term_start2         = May 30, 1967
| term_end2           = February 18, 1980
| predecessor2        = New Riding
| successor2          = [[Edmund L. Morris]]
| office3             = [[Parliament of Canada|MP]] for [[Halifax (federal electoral district)|Halifax]]
| term_start3         = April 8, 1963
| term_end3           = November 8, 1965
| predecessor3        = [[Edmund L. Morris|Edmund Morris]]
| successor3          = [[Michael Forrestall]]
| alongside3          = [[Robert McCleave]]
| term_start4         = February 18, 1980
| term_end4           = September 4, 1984
| predecessor4        = [[George Cooper (Canadian politician)|George Cooper]]
| successor4          = [[Stewart McInnes]]
| party               = [[Nova Scotia Liberal Party|Liberal]]
| occupation          = Lawyer
}}
'''Gerald Augustine Paul Regan'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/obituaries/the-hon-gerald-a-p-regan-30418/|title = The hon. Gerald a. P. Regan &#124; Saltwire}}</ref> {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|QC|ECNS}} (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 Scotia]] from 1970 to 1978.

==Early life and education==
Regan was born in [[Windsor, Nova Scotia]], of partial Irish descent, the son of Rose Mary (née Greene) and Walter Edward Regan.<ref name="google6">{{cite book|title=Not Guilty: The Surprising Trial of Gerald Regan|author=Kimber, S.|date=1999|publisher=Stoddart|isbn=9780773731929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAtfmlhzZa4C|access-date=January 27, 2017}}</ref><ref name="google4">{{cite journal|title=Guide Parlementaire Canadien|author1=Canada. Parliament|author2=Normandin, P.G.|journal=The Canadian Parliamentary Guide = Guide Parlementaire Canadien|date=1990|publisher=P. G. Normandin|issn=0315-6168|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J6RDAQAAIAAJ|access-date=January 27, 2017}}</ref> He graduated from [[Dalhousie Law School]] and was admitted to the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society in 1954.

==Legal career==
He became one of the region's best known labour lawyers, and his high-profile image led to an invitation to enter politics.

==Political career==
He was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]] in the [[1963 Canadian federal election|1963 federal election]].<ref>{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=6472|nolist=yes}}. Retrieved February 8, 2018.</ref> He resigned his seat in 1965 when he was named leader of the [[Nova Scotia Liberal Party]]. Regan entered the [[Nova Scotia House of Assembly]] in 1967, and aggressively pursued the government of [[List of Nova Scotia premiers|Premier]] [[George Isaac Smith]] as [[Opposition (parliamentary)|Leader of the opposition]]. Regan led a fourteen-hour [[filibuster]] against the government's plans to increase the sales tax in 1969.

Regan's Liberals won a [[minority government]] in [[1970 Nova Scotia general election|1970]], and were re-elected with a [[majority government|majority]] in [[1974 Nova Scotia general election|1974]].

As [[Premier (Canada)|premier]], Regan supported industrialization and the development of offshore gas and oil. His first government amended the province's labour code to prevent courts from issuing injunctions to prevent picketing in labour disputes, and the office of the provincial ombudsman was established. In its second term, the Regan government nationalized the [[Nova Scotia Light and Power]] electrical utility, and consolidated electricity supply under the Nova Scotia Power Corporation. A massive plan for the development of tidal power in the Bay of Fundy was also announced.

His government was defeated by [[John Buchanan (Canadian politician)|John Buchanan]]'s [[Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia|Progressive Conservative Party]] in the [[1978 Nova Scotia general election|1978 general election]], in part due to the oil shock's effect on the economy.

Regan returned to the federal House of Commons in the [[1980 Canadian federal election|1980 federal election]], and was appointed Minister of Labour and Minister of State for International Trade in the [[Cabinet of Canada|Cabinet]] of Prime Minister [[Pierre Trudeau]]. Regan was defeated along with the Liberal government in the [[1984 Canadian federal election|1984 election]].

==Criminal charges and controversy==
On October 27, 1993, [[CBC News]] revealed that the [[RCMP]] were investigating Regan for sexual misconduct.<ref name="Kimber"/> In March 1995 and May 1995 he was charged with a total of nineteen counts of sexual offences.<ref>{{cite news|title=Regan seeks inquiry over charges|periodical=The Globe and Mail|date=March 16, 1995|page=A1|author=Kevin Cox}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=More sex charges filed against Regan|periodical=The Globe and Mail|date=May 31, 1995|page=A3|author=Kevin Cox}}</ref> As of April 2, 1998, there were eighteen charges, but nine were [[stay of proceedings|stayed]] by Justice [[J. Michael MacDonald]] of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Regan to stand trial on nine sex charges|periodical=The Globe and Mail|date=April 3, 1998|page=A1|author=Kevin Cox}}</ref>

Regan ultimately faced trial on eight charges including rape, attempted rape and forcible confinement, for crimes allegedly committed in 1956 and 1969 against victims aged 14 and 18 at the time.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jury selection in Regan trial set to start|periodical=The Globe and Mail|date=November 4, 1998|page=A8|author=Kevin Cox}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Regan accuser insists attack real|periodical=The Globe and Mail|date=November 24, 1998|page=A3|author=Kevin Cox}}</ref> On December 18, 1998, he was acquitted on all eight charges by a jury.<ref>{{cite news|title=Regan acquitted|author=John DeMont|author-link=John DeMont|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/regan-acquitted/|date=December 28, 1998|access-date=June 5, 2017}}</ref>

On September 10, 1999, by a margin of 2–1, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal reinstated the nine stayed charges regarding alleged incidents in the mid-1960s and '70s involving girls and women aged 14 to 24 at the time; two were later dropped, but the others were to be tried together with the other remaining charge.<ref>[https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20000919002 Crown Retains New Counsel for Appeal] Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service</ref><ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.196056 Appeal court reserves decision in Regan case] CBC News</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Regan denies second set of sex charges|periodical=The Globe and Mail|date=December 3, 1999|page=A7|author=Kevin Cox}}</ref> The ruling reinstating the charges was upheld in a 5–4 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in February 2002.<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sex-assault-charges-reinstated-against-gerald-regan-1.306876 Sex assault charges reinstated against Gerald Regan] CBC News</ref> But in April 2002, the crown attorney's office announced that it would not continue prosecution on the remaining charges of sexual assault due to the age of the allegations, the cost and the age of the defendant.<ref>[https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20020417004 Regan Prosecution Will Not Proceed] Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service</ref><ref name="Kimber">{{cite news|last=Kimber|first=Stephen|title=Gerald Regan Case Update|url=http://stephenkimber.com/books/not-guilty/gerald-regan-case-update|access-date=November 3, 2011|newspaper=The Coast|date=April 25, 2002|archive-date=May 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519105614/http://stephenkimber.com/books/not-guilty/gerald-regan-case-update|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Regan's wife was Anita Carole Thomas (Harrison), whose father, [[John Harrison (Canadian politician)|John Harrison]], was a Saskatchewan Liberal Member of Parliament.<ref name=newsp1/><ref name="google6"/> They had six children, including [[Geoff Regan]], 36th [[Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)|Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada]], who also served as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in the government of [[Paul Martin]] from 2000 until 2006, and who served as MP for [[Halifax West]]; [[Nancy Regan]], a local television personality with [[CTV Atlantic|ATV]]; and [[Laura Regan]], an actress.

Regan died on November 26, 2019, at the age of 91.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/former-nova-scotia-liberal-premier-mp-gerald-regan-dead-at-91-380876/|title = Former Nova Scotia Liberal premier, MP Gerald Regan dead at 91 &#124; Saltwire}}</ref>
{{1962 Canadian federal election/Halifax}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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{{Canadian federal ministry navigational box header |ministry=23}}
{{ministry box cabinet posts
 | post1=[[Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources (Canada)|Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources]]
 | post1years=1984
 | post1note=
 | post1preceded=[[Jean Chrétien]]
 | post1followed=[[Patricia Carney]]
}}
{{Canadian federal ministry navigational box header |ministry=22}}
{{ministry box cabinet posts
 | post6=[[Minister of International Trade (Canada)|Minister for International Trade]]
 | post6years=1983–1984
 | post6note=
 | post6preceded=position created
 | post6followed=[[Francis Fox]]

| post5=Minister of State (International Trade)
 | post5years=1982–1983
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| post4=[[Secretary of State for Canada]]
 | post4years=1981–1982
 | post4note=
 | post4preceded=[[Francis Fox]]
 | post4followed=[[Serge Joyal]]

| post3=[[Minister of Amateur Sport (Canada)|Minister of Amateur Sport]]
 | post3years=1980–1982
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| post2=[[Minister of Labour (Canada)|Minister of Labour]]
 | post2years=1980–1981
 | post2note=
 | post2preceded=[[Lincoln Alexander]]
 | post2followed=[[Charles Caccia]]

| post1=Minister of State (Sports)
 | post1years=1980
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{{Second Trudeau Ministry}}
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{{CA-Secretaries of State of Canada}}
{{CA-Ministers of Labour}}
{{CA-Ministers for International Trade}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Regan, Gerald}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Schulich School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the 22nd Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the 23rd Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Nova Scotia Liberal Party MLAs]]
[[Category:People from Windsor, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Premiers of Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Regan family|Gerald]]
[[Category:Nova Scotia political party leaders]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]