Throughout his political life, Canavan played a leading part in the campaign for a Scottish Parliament. When Labour was in opposition, he led a nationwide consultation about devolution, on behalf of the Scottish Group of Labour MPs, leading to the publication of a bill to establish a Scottish Parliament with revenue-raising powers. However, in 1999, when the first elections to the Scottish Parliament were held, the New Labour leadership rejected him as an official Labour candidate, despite the fact that he had the support of 97% of local party members. He therefore stood as an Independent, and was consequently expelled from the party. Although there were rumours he would join the Scottish National Party, he did not join another party. He won with almost 55 percent of the vote, the highest majority of any MSP in the 1999 election. He resigned his Westminster seat in 2000 to concentrate on representing his constituents in the Scottish Parliament. Canavan retained his Holyrood seat in 2003 with 55.7 percent of the vote, again with the biggest majority in Scotland. In the Scottish Parliament, he was a member of the European and External Relations Committee and Convener of the All-Party Sports Group from 1999. In 2003 he criticised the Scottish football authorities when Falkirk Football Club was refused promotion to the Scottish Premier League, despite having won the First Division Championship. He supported Falkirk's efforts to build a new stadium for community use and he still regularly attends the club's matches. He is also Honorary President of Milton Amateurs Football Club. Canavan enjoys hill-walking and, in the Scottish Parliament, he championed the people's right of access to the countryside, successfully introducing amendments to the Land Reform Bill to extend the right of access to country estates, including land belonging to the Queen. He is now President of Ramblers Scotland. He is a strong supporter of the idea of a national holiday to celebrate St Andrew's Day, and his bill to achieve this was eventually passed as the St. Andrew's Day Bank Holiday Act 2007.
Retirement
When he announced his retirement before the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, he was the longest serving parliamentarian in the Scottish Parliament, having completed a combined 33 years at Westminster and Holyrood. After this announcement he received an ovation in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament from other MSPs and was praised by the First MinisterJack McConnell as "an outstanding parliamentarian over a long, long period of time". In April 2010, Canavan declared his support for John McNally, the Scottish National Party candidate for Falkirk in the 2010 general election. Falkirk is the successor to Canavan's former Westminster constituency. He has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Stirling and Strathclyde. In recognition of his public service, Falkirk Council launched the Dennis Canavan Scholarship to encourage young people to go on to further or higher education and to use their talents to help others.
Personal life
Canavan's marriage to Elnor Canavan ended in divorce. They had four children, all of whom predeceased him; he also has a son with his partner.