George Archibald was the seventh generation of the Archibald family to serve in the Nova Scotia legislature. His time in the legislature spanned two decades (the 80s and 90s). In this interview with Louise Cockram from the Off Script team, he describes some of the dramatic changes he observed over the length of his career at the legislature, some of the lighter moments of being an MLA, and the importance he saw in working with the other side.

Francene has worn many political hats in her day: first Mayor of Bedford, PC Party Candidate, Liberal Party Executive Director, Liberal MLA and Minister of Community Services just to name a few of them.

Here's our extended interview with Francene where she talks about winning a hotly contested nomination meeting, the sometimes tense challenges of sitting in the speaker's chair, and maintaining her own independence when she was uncomfortable with the direction of her party.

Graham Steele was the Finance Minister in Darrell Dexter's NDP Government. In this podcast he talks about his personal path in and out of politics, and why (if he could do it over again) he'd run for city council instead of the provincial legislature. Since leaving politics he's written a book on his time in public life, worked as a political analyst for the CBC, joined the faculty of Management at Dalhousie University, and is getting ready to release his second book 'The Effective Citizen' in the Fall of 2017.

This week’s featured interview is with Mark Parent, a former PC Party MLA and environment minister. Mark spoke to us about a range of his experiences in public life:

- his transition from being an NDP supporter, to backing Flora MacDonald's 'red toryism';

- the flagship legislation he spearheaded as Environment Minister, the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, and the path to multi-partisan support it required to turn it into Law

- the efforts made by both Stephen Harper and Elizabeth May to encourage him to run in their respective parties as a candidate for federal MP.

- his long list of advice for future lawmakers

Eleanor Norrie shares stories about her time in politics, including her negotiations with Texan oil tycoons as Natural Resources minister, chairing the failed attempt at running a leadership convention by telephone voting, taking part in the cabinet decision to close the Nova Scotia Teacher’s College (which was in her writing) and co-writing the platform that got John Savage’s Liberals elected to government.

Yvonne was the NDP MLA for the riding of Preston for just 18 months in the late 90s. Despite having a relatively short career in elected public office, she has plenty of reflections on her time as an MLA, and the state of politics in Nova Scotia.

MLAs have a great deal of choice when it comes to the kind of work they focus on, but there is one job that nobody but the elected MLAs can do: the creation of law.

Sera Thompson teaches and practices Deep Democracy, a psychology-based practise for resolving conflict among groups. In this special episode of the podcast, we share a conversation where she gives us a sample of what participants learn on one of her introductory courses.

This fall at Springtide, Sera will be teaching Co-Resolve - An Introduction to Deep Democracy on September 25 and 26 in Halifax, and you can register for that course here: http://bit.ly/2tV5unj

There are very few written rules that outline what is expected of MLAs once they take their jobs. But that doesn't mean that there aren't significant expectations placed on them once they take office.

There has never been a Mi’kmaq MLA in Nova Scotia, despite the fact that a seat has been reserved for one in the House of Assembly Act since the early 1990s. This week on Off Script, Sandra Hannebohm explores why.