Why Would Anyone Enter Politics?

And how to choose a candidate in 5 easy steps

My friend Dave Carroll has offered to be the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook in the 45th Canadian federal election.

With the rebirth of the Left-Conservatism tradition, I think you’ll meet more folks expressing politics like Dave in upcoming elections. I’ll be sharing more about Dave and his work in the coming months, but there’s one serious question that this brings up first…

Why would he run for public office?

In the upcoming Municipal, Provincial, and Federal Elections I’ll be supporting parties and candidates to help them earn a term as citizen representatives in our representative democracy.

I’m supporting Pam Lovelace for Mayor

I’m supporting Lisa Roberts to represent Halifax in the federal election to take on the difficult task of representing us, and a different set of voices and ideas after the coming Conservative landslide in Canadian politics.

I’m supporting Sean Fraser, who I hope, in the fullness of time will become the next Prime Minister of Canada from Nova Scotia. A real John Sparrow Thompson for the modern age.

And I am supporting Tim Houston and his unique brand of ‘politics by learning’ who I expect to earn an even larger majority in next year’s provincial election.

I’ll also encourage and support where I can the rebuilding of the Green, NDP, and Liberal parties in Nova Scotia. Positively, I look at their… current disarray… as an opportunity for new ideas, new leaders, new voices, and new ideas to challenge the status quo and improve the future of Nova Scotia.

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But who will these new party members, leaders, and candidates be? Who will run for office?

There are damn good reasons not to run...

Dr. John Savage’s experience in Nova Scotia is a well-known cautionary tale. People can find fault with anything. The truth is in politics the lows are lower than the highs are high and almost all political careers that make any difference at all end in tears.

Steve Maher’s new book THE PRINCE shares fascinatingly the political career of Justin Trudeau. It reminds me how difficult and terrible this business of democracy can be.

As Geoff Smart wrote in Leadocracy, a book about hiring more great leaders into government:

1/ Becoming a politician puts you in the company of a class of people held in high suspicion and low regard.

2/ It opens up your life, and the lives of your loved ones, to intense public scrutiny where in our new 'social' media-age people will say just about anything - there are no boundaries to how inhumanly and remorselessly awful people will be.

3/ For well-educated successful entrepreneurs like Dave there's a real opportunity cost - he could be out playing nice music for happy people, or leveraging his latest creative business effort into a really big deal of a lifetime, rather than working for a salary, no matter how generous.

4/ Given the bureaucratic inertia, the sad state of party politics, and the lack of public support, why would anyone think they could make a difference, change anything, or even help at all?  By joining in a person might just become part of the problem. Consider this - the new government that he would become part of would have about 200 or so elected folks to represent the whole of Canada, and their task would be to change the direction of over 365,000 federal civil servants. That would be a daunting task for the highest-paid corporate management teams in the world. How will 200 friendly folks from across Canada do it?

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For thinking people, thoughtful people - like Tim, Dave, Sean, Lisa, and Pam - these reasons not to offer for public service must weigh heavily.

Here's my observation. Good people, the best natural leaders, offer because over a lifetime their conscience simply will not release them from concern for the problems of the day, hope for the rising generation, and ideas about the shape of things to come. To put it another way, some people feel responsible and straight-up love Canada.

We can hope that the education elected officials get from the experience will more than offset the opportunity cost and pay dividends in self-improvement and self-knowledge. Through their political career, they get experience taking the slings and arrows of critics, bullies, and self-interested detractors. The best among them build personal fortitude to beard power and sustain the optimism of an activist. They never forget that Canada’s representative government is a political system in which an elected assembly governs. Members of the assembly act as the people's representatives in government.

In the 20 or so years I've watched Dave work I can't think of a single trivial thing he’s concerned himself with. Whether it’s music business, informing people, being a volunteer firefighter, or even coming to terms with United Airlines breaking his guitar. He goes at things in a big way.

If you're looking for a gladhandler, Dave is not the guy. However, if you're looking for someone who can think, and act in the interests of Nova Scotia, make difficult decisions, and then stand by those decisions even against the stream of contemporary opinion, then Dave is a person you should consider supporting.

The Political Truth

In the next 18 months or so there is going to be a federal election in Canada. Based partly on a broad-based feeling that it’s time for change, and an unprecedented dislike a material number of Canadians have for the current Prime Minister and his government’s policies, there is going to be a dramatic and sweeping change in government in Canada.

338, the best of the Canadian polling summary sites puts it plainly. There is an over 99% chance that the Conservative Party is going to win a majority of seats in the election.

There’s little a voter can do to change that. But the citizen voter does have a tremendous amount of power and control in other ways through the party system.

1/ You can vote for opposition candidates who have the capacity for effort, intellectual mindset, skills, and fortitude needed to hold the government accountable and keep the country informed about other ways to look at the decisions being made. It’s tough to imagine sending someone to Ottawa to yell at the government for five years but… someone’s gotta do it, and there’s a skill to it - in Canada’s history opposition politicians have, at times, made a big difference, even when up against huge and committed majority governments.

2/ Or you can vote for moderating, or goading, voices within the government itself. It is self-apparent that if your community votes in a candidate within the governing party, they will have more sway, peronal time with leaders, and influence than an opposition representative. So even if you feel strongly against a governing party, a vote for a party representative who will bring your opposing views into government policy and decision meetings is by far your best choice.

3/ Or you can join a party and do it yourself. Parties are not monolithic. At any moment, they are a constantly changing and evolving group of people who’ve gotten to run an election or form a government. For people on the outside who think of Canada’s political parties as they would think of government itself - a huge never changing army of automatons - they would be surprised to learn that political parties, especially ones out of government for a while, are incredibly small groups, almost always less than 100 real decision influencers at the federal level and less than 10 in a typical provincial party.

Actively joining a party and contributing to its executive and policy is the way a Canadian citizen can have by far the most impact on government, and the future of Canada.

Why vote for Dave... or anyone?

The corollary proposition to why someone would offer as a political candidate is how should you as a citizen judge a candidate - who should you vote for, and how do you decide?

How to pick a candidate

1 - First, consciously decide what you are looking for in a candidate and write it down before looking at the people or parties. Do you want the tallest and most handsome? Best hair? The one who empathizes most with you? The one who is strong on your hot-button issue of the day? The one most associated with old-timey flag-waving party ideals? Or the one who is ready to Burn It F#$%in’ Down? Write down five things.

2 - Then gather materials and find out about the candidates. Google them. Look at their social media. Have they been in the press or received other attention for their goings and doings? If you can't find where the candidate has taken stands on issues in the past and had the courage, or interest, as a citizen to speak out, then mark that as a strike against.

Try to come up with five things.

This is a really important point. If the candidate was not a notably good and active citizen, why would you imagine they would make a good citizen representative in government? I was once at a Barrack Obama rally in Bangor Maine. A woman asked, "What can I do?" Obama walked over to her and I cringed a little because I thought he was going to say GET OUT THERE AND VOTE! But he didn't. He thought for a long moment and then he said, the most important thing you can do is get informed about issues you aren't self-interested in, form an opinion, and have the courage to speak out.

We can't all be activists. One way to speak out is by supporting someone who shares your point of view. Since that time I've noticed in discussions and public meetings how good it feels when someone chimes in just to say I support what ... someone saying. It's a good way to be involved.

3 - Consider their positions. We're looking for dreamers - not daydreamers. Are they well-reasoned in their thinking? If there are older issues they’ve been involved with, how did they work out over time? What specific conclusions can you draw based on the candidate’s personal character and views? John Ralston Saul said, “The citizen's job is to be rude - to pierce the comfort of professional intercourse by boorish expressions of doubt.” More simply, I think the citizen’s job is to imagine more and better, for everyone.

4 - Look at their leadership skills. Have they led large complex organizations? Without experiential evidence, deciding if a candidate will be a good leader is difficult. How can you know if someone will be honest, open, or able to act under pressure if elected to office?

Ultimately, the job is about change management. The job is to redirect, or reimagine, the permanent government, the bureaucracy, to do the new thing that you want. That’s a very specific type of creative work. How can you expect this person to help change a monolithic bureaucracy, the biggest and most powerful in world history, to the direction you want them to go? It’s a daunting task. Excellent communication skills are essential, enabling them to articulate a clear vision, address concerns, and build consensus across diverse stakeholder groups. Strategic thinking is critical, allowing them to anticipate challenges, devise robust plans, and adapt strategies as circumstances evolve. A deep understanding of public policy and administrative processes is also necessary to implement changes effectively within the bureaucratic framework. Moreover, they need to exhibit resilience and emotional intelligence, managing resistance and fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. Strong ethical standards and a commitment to transparency and accountability are vital to maintaining public trust throughout the change process.

Maybe more plainly, these folks have to know how to take a punch standing and keep fighting… or know when to quit if that would leave the biggest mark. Generally, this is not work for nice easy people. I often think of Churchill, who was by all accounts a difficult, borish, and tiresome man. But in the bomblight of the blitz England didn’t need a fun dinner company, they needed someone different. We need someone different.

There are some indications. Is the candidate willing to engage with others, particularly others who differ from them or with whom they might not agree? Are they generally emphasizing images or issues? Are they creative? Are they loud? Are the kind of people who are heard?

5 - Consider other people's views and sort what they are saying into the same critical categories in 1 - 4 (including what I've written above!). Ask why they think what they think. Ask why they think certain things are important.

Bonus point... I was once on a plane with Nova Scotia Premier, Dr. John Savage after he had been pushed out of government by the NS Liberal party backroom boys and bureaucrats of the day.  He was on his way to volunteer for Doctors Without Borders in Siberia. One of the most interesting things he said was "Being a politician shouldn't be the best job you ever had". Consider that when thinking about a candidate and the value of career politicians in particular.


Watch out for...

Be prepared to actively look through distortion techniques used by both supporters and detractors. Some examples are:

Name calling/Appeals to prejudice:
These are attacks on an opponent based on characteristics that will not affect performance in office. References to race, ethnicity or martial status can be subtly used to instill prejudice.

Ad Hominum Attacks:

Nobody hates Nova Scotia, the working class, or the poor. Almost everyone in this province is a good and decent person, whatever their politics. Most folks are pretty smart. There are almost no racists, sexists, or ‘ists’ of any sort. If someone is accusing their opponent of that steer clear.

Rumor mongering:
These include statements such as, "Everyone says my opponent is a crook, but I have no personal knowledge of any wrongdoing," which imply (but do not state) that the opponent is guilty.

Guilt by association:
These are statements such as, "We all know Candidate B is backed by big money interest," or "All Liberals/Tories/Dippers/Independents are..." that attack candidates because of their support for a party rather than because of their stands on the issues. In Canada, we have a party system of government. It’s childish to imagine reasonable people running for government outside these established systems.

Catchwords:
These are phrases such as "Be Bold" or "Naysayer" that are designed to trigger a knee-jerk emotional reaction and shut down thinking and discussion rather than to inform.

Passing the blame:
These are instances in which a candidate denies responsibility for an action or blames an opponent for things over which he or she had no control. Though that siad, it’s your responsibility to learn which level of government has responsibility and control over which areas and issues. There’s simply no point in talking to your local councilor about Naitonal Defence.

Promising the sky:
These are unrealistic promises that no one elected official could fulfill. Most important among these is a real appreciation for the uncertainty of future events. A lack of appreciation of uncertainty and risk leads to a cheerleading casino capitalist government that will consistently disappoint the public.

This would also include low populist pandering - for example, promising to fix potholes, an easy applause line, but failing to have a vision for a transportation infrastructure system that’s not all about SUVs.

Evading real issues:
These include instances in which candidates may avoid answering direct questions, offer only vague solutions or talk about the benefits of proposed programs but never get specific about possible problems or costs.

Sum it all up.

Which candidate performs with dignity and style and appears true to their own values consistently - preferring improving Canada over their own comfort and interests?

Which candidate is running their own race and not running against someone else - chasing another person, idea, or goal?

Which candidate do you agree with the most? Where you don't agree, do you understand why the candidate holds the position they do?

Which candidate displays the most broad-based knowledge, interests, and experience?

Which candidate appears the most creative?

Which candidate has the leadership qualities you are looking for?

Which candidate's ideas look most like the tomorrow you hope for?

Choose that candidate! And remember democracy is a long game. There is no quick-fix, easy-way solution. Choosing good candidates is not a panacea. It's the first step on a life-long path to a better discussion, better parties, better politics, better government and a better Canada.

Finally, remember, it’s a pretty small country. If you want to, just call them up and go and talk to the candidates yourself. They, or someone on their team, will return your call within 24 hours and spend time with you. If they don’t, you’ve learned everything you need to know.

Note To Candidates or Anyone Who Is Gathering The Courage to Try or To speak Out

Any time you're going to move forward, any time you're about to take new ground, there will be opposition, complications come against you, situations that aren't fair, people that do you wrong, people trying to discourage you, things you don't understand, and the sour and the bitter people are always there to chime in and complain. They always seem to have the most time and energy for these things. Not everyone is going to like you. The people who reach their destiny aren't moved by what's not working out. They know the setback is really a setup for something greater.

When things come against you, it’s easy to think that all is not well and you can get distracted by the difficulties. But the truth is, the enemy wouldn’t be fighting you unless he knew something amazing was in front of you. In tough times, you can stay in peace knowing that opposition is a sign that you’re making a difference, you’re being heard, and something great is coming.

My grandmother who grew up through the First World War and Depression as a progressive activist used to put it plainly, “No one ever kicked a dead dog.”

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I’ll be sharing a more complete list of candidates I’m supporting in the upcoming election season. I hope you find some folks you can get behind.

So far I have:


Halifax Municipal

Mayor Race: Pam Lovelace


Federal Election:

Halifax: Lisa Roberts
Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook: Dave Carroll
Central Nova: Sean Fraser

Provincial Election:

Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia: Premier Tim Houston

The 25% Rule