Politician known for his Strait ties
Gerry Doucet was Nova Scotia’s first Acadian cabinet minister
Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg MLA Alfie MacLeod has fond memories of visiting Gerry Doucet recently at a Halifax retirement home.
“I always found it interesting to go and see him,” MacLeod recalled on Friday after learning of the former provincial cabinet minister’s death. “His health was failing and he would have challenges but his mind was as clear as the day. He’d always made a habit of watching legislative television when the house was sitting and keeping abreast of current affairs. It was always very helpful but it was always educational to go and visit him.
“When he left elected office he certainly didn’t leave politics behind, that’s for sure.”
Doucet, 80, died Thursday in Halifax. Born in Grand Étang in 1937, he graduated from St. Francis Xavier University and went on to earn a law degree from Dalhousie University in 1961. He was first elected as the member for Richmond to the Nova Scotia Legislature when he was 26 years old and he became a cabinet minister nine months later. He was the first Acadian cabinet minister in the province’s history. He served as the minister of education, minister of youth, provincial secretary and minister of emergency measures.
He owned CIGO in Port Hawkesbury between 1975 and 1985 and that’s where present station president Bob MacEachern first met him.
“I was an employee of his company for about six years,” said MacEachern on Friday. “I didn’t work closely with him — I got to know him after that.”
MacEachern said Doucet may have left Cape Breton to work as a lawyer in Halifax and as a consultant in Ottawa but the Strait area was never far from his mind.
“He was always very much connected to the Strait region and what was going on.”
Doucet is survived by his wife, Vida, five children, 13 grandchildren and four brothers. Snow’s Funeral Home in Halifax will announce the funeral information once it is known.
“When he left elected office he certainly didn’t leave politics behind, that’s for sure.”
Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg MLA Alfie MacLeod