Welcome to this week’s installment of “Where’s Cecil?,” my ongoing effort to keep track of Mayor Cecil Clarke’s campaign appearances to judge just how much time he’s taking from his day job to travel the province in pursuit of the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia.
I’ve actually had a rethink of my method of tracking the mayor — I began by focusing on events on weekdays or events that would require travel on weekdays, but it has occurred to me that mayors often attend events on weekends and after traditional business hours, so really, any time Clarke spends on his campaign could be considered time away from his mayoral duties. From now on, I will track all the appearances I can find.
As you will recall, the mayor of the CBRM declared his candidacy for the PC leadership on February 3. Tories will choose their new leader at the very end of October. So Clarke intends to spend roughly eight months doing double duty as the only candidate/mayor among the leadership hopefuls.
We know, because they told us, that CBRM Human Resources does not track the vacation time of the mayor, whose only constraint is apparently Section 17(4) of the MGA:
A mayor or councillor who, without leave of the council, is absent from three consecutive regular meetings of the council, ceases to be qualified to serve as mayor or as a councillor.
Mayor Clarke, then, is presumably tracking his time off based on his own estimate (shared with CBC radio listeners back in December 2017) that he has over 20 weeks’ vacation stockpiled.
Shelburne
The Spectator has already dealt with Clarke’s May 10th campaign appearance in a pothole in New Ross, so no need to cover that ground again.
Later that same day, he was at a fundraising dinner for the Cole Harbour-Portland Valley and Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage PC Associations in Eastern Passage.
It is probably worth noting that all the leadership candidates were invited to this “sold out” event.
Why I Live in the ICU?
Last week also found him at the Roseway Manor in Shelburne.
Clarke, who posted this message on Saturday, did not say when he was in Shelburne, but under my new rules it doesn’t matter.
Personally, I would quibble with the notion that “intensive care” is a form of “housing” for seniors, but you know me, I’m a quibbler from way back.
Mystery Location
On Monday, May 14, Clarke was in the living room of Cameron and Shona MacKeen. He doesn’t say where Cameron and Shona MacKeen live, but Facebook says on May 14th he was “near Halifax.”
Sources tell the Spectator Clarke is still in Halifax, preparing for Wednesday night’s “informal” leadership debate in Lower Sackville.
Good thing there’s nothing pressing happening in the CBRM these days, like 600 people showing up in front of the provincial building to demand action on equalization.
Here’s the updated calendar of Clarke campaign events:
