Murphy’s Logic: Politicians should prioritize public interest over their own

Murphy's Logic: Problems in Canadian politics Steve Murphy takes Canadian politics to task for allowing MPs to run for municipal office.

It’s been more than two months since Andy Fillmore announced he would not be seeking another term as member of parliament for Halifax. About two weeks later, he declared his candidacy for mayor of the Halifax region. So at the moment, he is both a sitting member of parliament and a declared candidate for mayor. Every announcement and every appearance he makes in his still-official role as MP, implicitly boosts his campaign for mayor, while the Canadian public continues to pay his salary

Mr. Fillmore could have resigned his federal office back in June, before announcing his municipal aspirations. We can only speculate about why he didn’t. It may be that he didn’t want Halifax to be without an MP for any longer than necessary, or that his boss, the prime minister, didn’t want to be forced to call a by-election any earlier than necessary. More cynically, it may be that Mr. Fillmore didn’t want to go without a pay check for any longer than necessary. Whatever his reason or reasons, it’s all strictly legal… but it’s not right.

To be fair, the issue here is not so much what Mr. Fillmore has done, as the laws that allow politicians to have it both ways.

Nova Scotia’s municipal elections act prohibits members of parliament and members of the legislature from being nominated for municipal office. But that language opens the loophole that allows a sitting federal MP or provincial MLA to declare for municipal office, weeks or months before being officially nominated, at which point they presumably do have to resign.

Sitting councilors, Waye Mason and Pam Lovelace, are also declared candidates for mayor of Halifax but that’s permitted under the act. Perhaps it shouldn’t be - but that’s a different issue.

The intent of the law is clear: a person should not continue serving the interests of one level of government, while pursuing elected office in another.

So let’s change all of the relevant laws so declared candidates have to choose one or the other.

Political and personal considerations should not come ahead of the greater public interest.