A wineskin full of quips: NDP leader has drawn on his preacher skills to skewer opponents

Whenever Gary Burrill steps aside for someone else to take his place as leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party, the preacher-turned-politician will shift from a leading role to part of the supporting cast in caucus.

Burrill announced this week he would be stepping away from the job. But he will remain until his party can select his replacement.

It's a change that will likely mean fewer people will be treated to his signature turns of phrase, which have become known as Burrill-isms.

A United Church minister by profession, the 66-year-old MLA for Halifax Chebucto has elicited more than his fair share of smiles, chuckles and guffaws from reporters and political staffers for some of his unconventional public comments and observations.

Burrill often earned some latitude in the media for his sometimes lengthy or roundabout answers to questions. 

That's because Burrill knew the power of a good punchline, even if the lead-in took longer than normal to deliver, and travelled a circuitous route. 

Over the years, he has accused governments of "Judy-Garland-somewhere-over-the-rainbow economics" and called a budget a "dumpster full of disappointment."

He once called a Speech from the Throne an "empty piece of nothingness" and described government as a "woodpile full of weasels" when it comes to openness.

Reporters didn't always know where Burrill was leading them when he started to speak.

In an interview with CBC News, Burrill said his father taught him his lifelong love of words and writing.

Fred Burrill, also a United Church minister, was a powerful influence on his son. Fred Burrill preached throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick over 43 years, 

"My father lived his life within the discipline of the homiletic craft, within the discipline of the sermon, and the discipline of the word and I was entirely raised in that environment and I lived my life in the discipline of the craft of words although in a different way," said Gary Burrill.

Before following in his father's footsteps as a preacher, Burrill was a writer and editor for New Maritimes, a magazine he described as a "lefty" publication that existed in the 1980s and '90s.

That experience solidified Burrill's love of language and his constant search for a clever turn of phrase or a clear and concise way to get his ideas across.