Allan Rowe gone far too soon

• Allan Rowe, Dartmouth South MLA, dead at 58

And then someone dies, or becomes very ill. Its a shocking reminder forMLAsoftheir mortality, and of the shallowness of whatever might be that days political hotpotato.

Its particularly shocking when a member is stricken on the floor of the House, in themidst of proceedings, ashappened in the House of Commons in 1998 with popularLiberal MPShaughnessyCohen, or in our own legislaturewith JohnHolmand PaulMacEwan.HolmandMacEwanrecovered from their aneurysms. Sadly, Cohen diedshortly after being stricken.

This week, Dartmouth SouthMLAAllan Rowe died. He suffered an aneurysm athome a few weeks ago, apparently after shovelling an earlier round of this awfulsnow. He passed away early Monday.

Allans death was doubly shocking, both because of its suddenness, and because hewas only 58years old.

The death of a sittingMLAis rare enough, though certainly not unknown. SinceConfederation, it has happened 46 times.

I have known the last threeMLAsto die in officeMichael Baker (PC,Lunenburg) in2009, JohnChataway(PC, ChesterSt. Margarets) in 2004, and Eileen OConnell(NDP, HalifaxFairview) in 2000.

I worked with Eileen as a caucus staff person from1998 until her death, and was first elected in the by-election held to fill the vacancy.Michael and John were my colleagues in the legislature from the time I was electeduntil their respectivepassings.

All of this experience tells me that Allans passing with create a sombre mood whenthe House of Assembly reconvenes next week.For a brief timetoo brieftherewill be a gravity to the proceedings, because ourMLAswill have been sharplyreminded of what really matters.

Allan Rowe stood a chance to make a difference. He was anMLAfor only 17 months, though, and the political culture is too deep and destructive to be affectedby a single individual, certainly over such a short period. We will never know whatmore he might have accomplished.

'Positive tone'

Its not a lot, both because of his short tenure, andbecause governmentbackbenchersarent given much latitude to speak.

But theres enough for me to say this: I am struck by the positive tone and spirit thatAllan brought to the House.Theres the very occasional partisan jab, but they aregentle by political standards and said, Im sure, with a twinkle.And it was all said inthat lovely, deep voice honed during 30 years in broadcast journalismthe voicethat we will not hear again.

With the help of Open House, let me give the last word to Allan. On April 10, 2014,he reflected on the sudden passing of former federal finance minister, JimFlaherty,and said:

it gave me an opportunity to reflect on all of our lives here and the fact that weare here to spend some time on this Earth and perhaps do the best we can to try andachieve what we think is the right thing to achieve, to do the best we can forourselves and for the people around us.

"In the case of all of us in this House, it's forall of our constituents; it's for the people of Nova Scotia.