{{Short description|Canadian politician}} {{hatnote|For the American musician, see Howie Epstein.}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Howard Epstein | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|1|17}} | birth_place = Halifax, Nova Scotia | office = MLA for Halifax Chebucto | term_start = March 24, 1998 | term_end = October 8, 2013 | predecessor = Jay Abbass | successor = Joachim Stroink | party = NDP | occupation = }}
'''Howard Michael Epstein''' (born January 17, 1949) is a Canadian politician, lawyer and part-time law professor.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_sLAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Epstein,+howard%22+1949+halifax | title=Canadian who's who, 1990| last1=Simpson| first1=Kieran| date=August 1990| isbn=9780802046550}}</ref>
==Early life and career== Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he is an environmentalist, serving as the director of the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax from 1991-1994. Epstein was a student of the Halifax Grammar School.
==Political career== First elected to Halifax City Council in 1994, he was re-elected in 1996 with the formation of the Halifax Regional Municipality. Epstein sat as the Councillor for District 14 (Connaught-Quinpool), representing the city's West End. On March 24, 1998, Epstein was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for the New Democratic Party representing the provincial riding of Halifax Chebucto.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaypackstory?1998/03/25+248.raw+PE98Mar25+2|title=NDP takes metro|work=The Chronicle Herald|date=March 25, 1998|accessdate=May 10, 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050124004424/http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaypackstory?1998%2F03%2F25+248.raw+PE98Mar25+2|archivedate=January 24, 2005|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was re-elected in the 1999, 2003, 2006, and 2009 general elections.
Prior to June 2009, he was the NDP Critic for Conserve Nova Scotia, Intergovernmental Affairs, Gaming and the Heritage Property Act.
Epstein was shut out of the Cabinet by Premier Darrell Dexter when the NDP first formed government in June 2009. He was shut out of Cabinet a second time when Dexter shuffled his cabinet on May 30, 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/first-female-finance-minister-appointed-in-n-s-1.1294295|title=First female finance minister appointed in N.S.|publisher=CBC News|date=May 30, 2012|accessdate=May 10, 2018}}</ref>
Epstein was the Ministerial Assistant for the Department of Community Services, specifically co-operative housing and other housing programs.<ref> {{cite press release | title = Premier Appoints Ministerial Assistants | publisher = Government of Nova Scotia | date = June 29, 2009 | url = http://www.gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20090629003 | accessdate = July 12, 2009}}</ref>
On January 15, 2013, Epstein announced that he would not be re-offering in the next Nova Scotia general election.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/mla-howard-epstein-not-reoffering-in-next-election-1.1322272|title=MLA Howard Epstein not reoffering in next election|publisher=CBC News|date=January 15, 2013|accessdate=May 10, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/441176-mla-epstein-won-t-reoffer|title=MLA Epstein won't reoffer|work=The Chronicle Herald|date=January 15, 2013|accessdate=December 27, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118014916/http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/441176-mla-epstein-won-t-reoffer|archivedate=January 18, 2013}}</ref>
On March 20, 2015, Empty Mirrors Press published Epstein's political memoir "Rise Again: Nova Scotia's NDP on the Rocks" an account of his 15 years in provincial politics, the history of the New Democratic Party in Nova Scotia, and his analysis of the successes and failures of the Dexter NDP government during its term in office.<ref>[http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~aa051/Rise-Again/ "Rise Again: Nova Scotia's NDP on the Rocks"].</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090625122600/http://howardepstein.ca/ Official website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Howard}} Category:Living people Category:Schulich School of Law alumni Category:Canadian environmentalists Category:Nova Scotia New Democratic Party MLAs Category:Politicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia Category:Jewish Canadian politicians Category:1949 births Category:Halifax Regional Municipality councillors Category:20th-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly Category:21st-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly