What I learned about politics: inside the rise--and collapse--of Nova Scotia's NDP government

Copyright
 Epigraph
 Table of Contents
 Foreword
 Preface
 1. The Election of 2013: \"The Arse is Right Out Of \'Er\"
 2. Learning to be a Politician
 Getting to Know Nova Scotia
 Learning the Ropes at Province House
 Helen MacDonald and the By-election of 2001
 3. What Does an MLA Actually Do?
 Legislative Work
 MLAs\' Background and Experience Do Not Equip Them for Legislative Work
 All Substantial Decisions on Bills and Budgets are Made Elsewhere
 Party Discipline Drives All Real Debate Behind Closed Doors
 Summing Up the Legislative work
 Constituency Work
 Losing My Secret Strength
 Endnotes. 4. Eight Years in OppositionBuilding Darrell\'s Image
 Finding My Stage: The Public Accounts Committee
 The Big Blow-Up: MLA Expenses
 The Rules of the Game
 5. Election 2009: The Honeymoon Begins
 Election Night: Victory Enjoyed and Defeat Foretold
 The Aftermath of the Election
 Becoming a Cabinet Minister
 The Worries Of A New Finance Minister
 6. Inside The Dexter Government
 The Cabinet
 The Premier\'s Office
 Treasury Board
 Policy and Priorities
 The First Eight Months: Wasting The Honeymoon
 7. The MLA Expense Scandal: The Honeymoon Ends
 The Auditor General\'s Report
 Conclusion. 8. So You Want To Be Finance Minister?The Laws of Finance
 Back to Balance
 Politics
 9. The Choices We Made: Balance, Spending, Taxes
 Balancing The Budget
 Reducing Expenditure
 Raising More Revenue
 Could We Lower The HST?
 10. Resigning as The Minister of Finance
 Same Old, Same Old
 When I Decided to Resign
 How and When I Resigned
 11. Returning to Cabinet
 Why I Came Back
 What I Saw When I Got There
 12. The End
 What Went Wrong?
 What Comes Next?
 Where is Politics Going?
 Political Parties
 Better Politicians?
 Engaged Citizens
 The End
 Appendix: The News Conference I Never Held.