John Hamm

John Frederick Hamm, OC, ONS (born April 8, 1938) is a Canadian physician and politician and was the 25th Premier of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Education

Hamm, a graduate of the University of King's College and Dalhousie University, was a family doctor in his hometown of Stellarton, Nova Scotia, and the president of the Nova Scotia Medical Society.

Entrance to provincial politics

He entered politics in 1993, becoming the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the riding of Pictou Centre.^[1]

As leader of the Progressive Conservative Party

Hamm was elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia in 1995,^[2] succeeding Terry Donahoe. His party won 14 seats in the 1998 provincial election and held the balance of power in a minority government where both the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party, led by Russell MacLellan and Robert Chisholm, respectively, each had nineteen seats.^[3][4]

As Premier of Nova Scotia

Hamm's Tories defeated the Liberal minority government on a budget vote on June 17, 1999,^[5] and in the subsequent election on July 27, 1999, Hamm was elected Premier, winning 30 of the 52 seats in the provincial legislature.^[6]

After taking office, Hamm sold or closed government-owned industries such as Sydney Steel.^[7] He invested more in education and health care, and implemented some tax cuts. His government was the first to truly balance provincial finances in 25 years, following changes in public sector accounting practises.

In 2001, Hamm was at odds with the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union, trying to legislate nurses back to work after a legal strike.

In the 2003 election, Hamm's Progressive Conservatives were reduced to a minority government. The main issue in that election was the increasing cost of car insurance and whether Nova Scotia should begin to allow general Sunday shopping. Despite the minority government, Hamm's government was able to drop an NDP plan for government automobile insurance issue, and put the Sunday shopping issue to a province-wide plebiscite. Hamm is opposed to Sunday shopping and a public auto insurance system.

Retirement

On September 29, 2005, Hamm surprised Nova Scotia by announcing his intention to retire as Premier and PC Leader.^[8] He had been expected to call an election in fall of 2005. In the Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia leadership election, 2006, Rodney MacDonald was elected his successor.

After politics

On December 21, 2006, Hamm was appointed Chairperson of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, a federal agency created to protect and promote the health and safety, human dignity and human rights of Canadians who use or are born of assisted human reproduction technologies, and to foster ethical principles in relation to assisted human reproduction and other related matters.

In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions to the province of Nova Scotia as a former premier, family physician and community leader".^[9]

Atlantic Accord

One of his most notable achievements was negotiating with the federal government to implement the Atlantic Accord, a multi-decade regional development program that had been approved in principle during the late 1980s to prevent provincial government offshore oil and gas royalties from being included in calculations for the federal equalization program. This resulted in an $830 million payment in 2005 from the federal government, which Hamm applied against the principal on the province's long term debt, thereby reducing debt servicing payments by over $50 million annually.^[10]

References