[1] In the aftermath of the 1993 election, the party set about reforming its policies and purpose, with McLaughlin announcing on April 18, 1994 that she would step down as leader by 1996.

[3] With an internal party atmosphere that could best be described as toxic, Alexa McDonough, Lorne Nystrom, and Svend Robinson, entered the leadership campaign in the spring of 1995.

[4] The conditions were similar to the ones that McDonough faced during her first leadership campaign in Nova Scotia during 1980: a divided party that was self-immolating.

Robinson's political position was seen as considerably more on the activist left side of the party than Nystrom's or McDonough's.

[11] In the 1997 election, McDonough's first as leader, the party won 21 seats, including a historic breakthrough in the Atlantic provinces.