When they’re at your door and on your lawn, the politics is local

My little potential vote is getting me a lot of attention from the candidates in my riding. They or their representatives are knocking on my door or phoning me at least once a day it seems. I have signs on my lawn supporting two different candidates and have dangled the possibility of my vote in front of two others. I have to say I am enjoying this.

For six months or so, since the 1st of March, I have had no representation in the provincial government. That was the day Kevin Deveaux, the former member of the legislature for my riding, left Nova Scotian politics to go give parliamentary advice in Vietnam. Nova Scotian law allows six months in which to call a by-election after a seat has been vacated. That Little Boy Premier Rodney MacDonald waited the whole six months to make the call, leaving me and my neighbours unrepresented, may say something about how the Premier feels about me and my neighbours. Deveaux was a member of the New Democratic Party, which appears poised to take power in the next general election. It is probable that Premier MacDonald held off on making the call because his minority government finds the air inside Province House a little easier to breathe with fewer New Democrats in attendance. No matter what the reason, it is offensive to have left me and over twenty thousand of my neighbors for half a year with no voice in the legislature.

Kevin was a good representative, in touch with his community and his constituents, and popular here because of that. Except for a squeaker in the 1999 election, when Mr. Deveaux beat his Conservative rival by a mere 182 votes, Kevin’s position as MLA has been secure. He fended off all challengers in the last election, capturing an impressive 64.47% of the popular vote in the riding. Because he was so secure in his position, I voted for the Green Party in the last provincial election just for the sake of supporting them.

But that was then. This time around, I am in the unusual position of not knowing yet who will get my vote on October 2. The fledgling provincial Green Party is again fielding a candidate, and my gut instinct is to vote for her. I like a vigorous multi-party democracy, and the best means at my disposal to encourage this here is to keep voting Green, to help in the growth of that Party. I have one of their signs on my lawn. I am even officially a member of the Green Party, I have paid my membership dues. So you think it would be certain that I would vote for them. Yet it isn’t.

For one thing, the Greens are the only ‘major’ party in the field whose candidate, Beverly Woodfield, has not contacted me directly. I have had enthusiastic conversations with a couple of people in the party and on her campaign, but I have yet to hear directly from her. Each of the other candidates have spoken with me for as long as I cared to speak or listen. Each of them took notes when I addressed some of my concerns regarding autism funding in the schools and for the summer camp. It turns out that there is nothing more attentive than a politician on the campaign trail and in the presence of a politically savvy voter who hasn’t yet made up his mind.

I mean, these people really listened.

The Liberal candidate, a high school principal named Kelly Rambeau went so far as to have the leader of the Party call me so I could talk to him about autism as well. This, even after I told him I probably wouldn’t be voting for him, but still invited him to change my mind.

And today, the Conservative candidate, Mike Eddy, came traipsing through my yard with his wife Marsha a respectable three steps behind. She stood and took a large number of notes while her candidate husband listened to the things I had to say about autism in general, and about autism funding in particular.  I mentioned that a couple of years ago, the then-Premier John Hamm (also Conservative) dismissed the broad implementation of ABA in the schools as not “cost effective.”  ABA has been shown to be a wildly successful means of educating (although some might argue “conditioning”) autistic children, one that groups of parents across the country have fought long and expensive court battles in trying to get governments to pony up and cover the costs in schools.  “The leader of your party had the opportunity to have Nova Scotia step up and do the right thing by our kids,” I said to the candidate, “and when he dismissed the opportunity with a fiscal shrug, he pretty much sealed the deal that I wouldn’t be voting Conservative.  Ever.”  Mike Eddy listened intently.  I actually believed he was honestly interested.  In a democracy where voter turnout only hovers around the 60% mark in general elections and becomes truly atrocious in by-elections, I suppose it pays to listen to actual voters.  In any case, he promised to have the Minister of Education or (more likely) one of his underlings give me a call so I could take those concerns directly to the sitting government.  He promised to do so before October 2, election day.  I have no doubt that he will keep his word.

Which brings me round to the NDP candidate, Becky Kent, currently the city councillor for my district and seeking to fill Kevin Deveaux’ largish kind of shoes.  She was every bit as interested in my spiel on autism as the other candidates, and promised to have leader Darrell Dexter (likely our next Premier) call me about it just as the Liberal leader Stephen McNeil had done.  That was a week or so ago, and where McNeil phoned me the very next day after it was promised he would, I have yet to hear from Mr. Dexter.  This is forgivable, perhaps, because Dexter is a busy man leading a dynamic party and figuring out how best to craft his way into the premier’s chair and all, while McNeil barely seems to have much of a party to hold together.  (As an aside here, I’ll note that it was a couple of days after the election call that the Liberals finally got around getting some signs out.  When the writ was actually dropped, while the other three parties already had signs around my neighbourhood, the Liberal Party had yet to choose a candidate.  The first news story about the man they finally chose, Mr. Rambeau, was about a tax fraud conviction of his from 1994.  It was a minor offense, possibly the result of a paperwork mistake as Rambeau contends, but it got the Liberal campaign off to a questionable start.  Even as I first read the story, I said to Charlene, “What the hell is wrong with them?  The best person they could find was someone with a tax fraud conviction?  What, no pedophiles available?”)  I liked the representation Becky Kent’s predecessor gave this riding, and I would not be sad to see Ms. Kent continue that tradition in the Legislative Assembly.  If I could be certain that she could win against her Conservative rival without my vote, then I would almost certainly go with my beloved and beleaguered Greens.  But my crystal ball is fuzzy.

Politically speaking, the by-election on October 2 will be almost meaningless to those outside this riding.  Even to most people inside it, frankly.  It will not affect the balance  of power in the sitting minority government.  If the New Democrat wins, as I expect, then it may embolden Darrell Dexter to trigger the collapse of the government and face the province in a general election.  If the Conservative candidate wins – and it does appear to be a race – then the seat gain may embolden Premier MacDonald to trigger his own government’s collapse to face the electorate in pursuit of a majority government.  Rodney, if you’re listening: don’t do it, you don’t stand a chance.  You’re probably a nice enough guy, but you are too young, too green, too indecisive.  In short – you are no leader.  If the Liberal candidate wins the race, there will be a great deal of stunned and drunken celebration in the Party and will have virtually no consequence in provincial politics.

And if the Green candidate wins, there will be a wild and drunken celebration right here in my own house to be followed elsewhere by…well…by allegations of voter fraud, I expect.