By Jamie Barrie T he race is on and the finish line is October 27 th . That is the date when Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservative Party will select a new leader. For months five very capable candidates have been journey- ing the province, meeting with current Tories, and signing up as many new members as possible. Their objective? To safeguard as many votes as possible and win the top job as party leader. Vying for theposition are currentMLAs ElizabethSmith-Mc- Crossin, John Lohr, and Tim Houston. In addition to these three, two other people have put their name forward. A relative new comer Julie Chaisson is running along with a long time PC, former MLA, and current Mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Cecil Clarke. From the sidelines, this leadership campaign feels like it has been three times longer than necessary. Former leader Jamie Baillie left the role in January 2018 after breaking the news of his pending departure in the fall of 2017. Holding the leadership convention in October 2018 makes it over a year from Baillie’s notice. Critics suggest the wait is the result of poor organization, a calculated delay to sign up more members, or a combination of both. The PC’s scheduled five official leadership debates across the province. While attendance was strong, substance was dreadful. In what can only be called a peculiar debate format, candidates were literally prohibited from speaking to one another. No interaction at all. It made for some rather humdrum moments with each successive debate becoming more uncomfortable than the previous. The run-of-the-mill hosts, lengthy questions, and require- ment to raise a paddle to rebut a topic were not conducive to an informative and open debate. To say these events were boring, uninformative and repetitive would be kind. If this represents the reformation of the once powerful Progressive Conservatives, they have work to do. The organizers appeared more concerned about cutting off candidates microphones with split second accuracy than they were with educating the membership. The party also had an amateurish setup for online stream- ing of the debates with grainy uncontrolled video and terrible audio. At one debate, the video disappeared com- pletely near the end and at another the camera began to randomly zoom in on candidate’s abdominal areas while they spoke. In this era of social media dominance, live streaming is very important. It was a missed opportunity to display a new and vibrant party to a vast audience of potential voters. Another inauspicious decision for the party is their con- vention location. Leadership events are exclusively held at large hotels or similar complexes in urban centres. The intent is to maximize media and delegate attendance. More importantly it provides the right atmosphere to have
the party under one roof to hopefully rally behind the new leader.
Not this time. The convention is being held at a suburban facility which is little more than a converted hockey rink with no accommodations within waking distance. Dele- gates will be scattered all over the metro area at hotels. Hardly a recipe to steal the headlines and achieve party coherence. One wonders how this could happen with a full year to find a more suitable location. Some long-time party members see these missed oppor- tunities as a sign it may be prudent to truly revitalize the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives top to bottom. Some well respected political commentators suggest a poorly defined policy platform and mediocre PC campaign gave the Liberals a second majority in the last election. Expectations of Baillie taking a minority win went off the rails mostly because the Halifax area breakthrough was thwarted. Their “all- star” lineup did not resonate with the electorate as anticipated. The new leader will need to assess what happened in 2017 and fix it. There is a short window to put a fresh face on the party. They need to find candidates that identify with the electorate in diverse ridings. The use of “resume” candidates has cost them many seats that have traditionally been PC strongholds. All five candidates have another obstacle. Interim leader Karla MacFarlane has been immensely popular with the public and done well in the Legislature. This will leave a void they will need to fill quickly. That may prove difficult as the tone of the campaign has been nasty at times and “true” solidarity will not come easily.
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SEPTEMBER 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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