Wanted: political party leader
Posted Feb 16, 2010 03:46:30 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There’s a little more than eight months until the provincial Progressive Conservative party leadership convention and they’ve yet to have a declared candidate.
So far, it’s all about who isn’t running.
Businessman Bill Black dropped out of the race Monday. Former speaker and Cape Breton MLA Cecil Clarke is apparently more interested in a run at federal politics. Halifax mayor Peter Kelly again insists he will not be a candidate.
“I have a job at this time,” says Kelly, who plans to re-offer for mayor in 2012. “I want to focus on the challenges at hand. It’s a job that I very much enjoy and I like being a servant of the people,”
Provincial Tories pick a new leader October 29th and 30th.
Interim leader Karen Casey and Argyle MLA Chris d’Entremont are reported to be interested, however nothing official has been announced.
One other potential candidate is Jamie Baillie, John Hamm’s former chief of staff.
Cape Breton University political science professor Dr. Tom Urbaniack says the fact Baillie doesn’t hold office may be an advantage this time.
“There may be a certain appetite within the party and without the party to show that a new day has dawned, by reaching outside the usual political class for a new leader,” says Urbaniack.
But its risky as well, he says, pointing to former Liberal leader Francis MacKenzie.
