In 1997, he became leader of the
Nova Scotia Liberal Party and premier of the province after
John Savage was forced to resign due to discontent within his party and sagging polls. MacLellan tried to revive the Liberal government's fortunes; he narrowly won a
minority government in the
1998 election, but his government was defeated in a confidence vote in 1999 and then defeated in the resulting
1999 election. On January 26, 2000, MacLellan announced he would step down as Liberal leader on June 30. He continued to sit as an
MLA until resigning in October 2000. ==After politics==