Jamie Baillie announces his bid for the leadership of Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservative party in Dartmouth, N.S. on Monday, June 7, 2010.ANDREW VAUGHAN/The Canadian Press
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When it comes to spending scandals, Ottawa politicians are not alone. This is familiar ground for Nova Scotia politicians, who are about two years ahead of their federal colleagues in the spending controversy department. Their bad behaviour and cavalier treatment of taxpayer's money mirrors that of their colleagues in the Senate in Ottawa.
"It's a disgrace what is going on in Ottawa in the Senate," says Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Baillie. "It appears the same sense of entitlement and lack of accountability to taxpayers that caused the scandal here with those that were involved also exists in the Senate where there's no accountability."
Mr. Baillie, who was not the party leader when the Nova Scotia spending scandal story broke, is concerned about public cynicism toward politicians.
As a result, he says he has instituted what he believes to be the most rigorous vetting process of potential candidates in the country, borrowing what he and his officials considered the best practices from other provincial and federal parties.
The 30-page questionnaire is full of pointed questions – about drug use, spending habits and other behaviours that could pose problems.
"We do everything from credit checks to criminal checks to federal tax record checks to personal questions," says Mr. Baillie. A small committee of officials looks at all the answers.
"We have rejected people on the basis of what we found out and that means to me that our system is working," he says, noting that several potential candidates did not pass the screening process. His party has nominated nearly 46 of a possible 51 candidates. An election is expected in the next few months.
"Ultimately, a political institution is only as good as the people in it," he says. "So if we want to change the culture of politics we have to change the people. That's what this is all about."
So far, three former Nova Scotia MLAs, two Liberals and a Progressive Conservative, have been convicted of fraud and breach of trust as a result of misuse of public funds. One MLA bought a big-screen television and a generator for his home and another submitted false expense claims that totalled nearly $61,000. The third pleaded guilty to breach of trust. Sentences ranged from house arrest to four months in jail.
A former NDP MLA is awaiting his trial next month.
But there's more. Let's not forget, the recent scuffle in the bathroom in the Nova Scotia legislature between former NDP cabinet minister Percy Paris and Liberal MLA Keith Colwell. It ended in charges of assault against Mr. Paris and his resignation from cabinet. He is still sitting as an MLA.
And so parallel are the Nova Scotia and Ottawa political universes, that just this week Cape Breton Liberal MLA Manning MacDonald resigned his seat after threats that he was about to be fined for collecting his salary while being on vacation for a month in Florida while the House of Assembly was sitting.
Mr. MacDonald's trip recalls memories of former Liberal senator Andrew Thompson, who was famously living in Mexico, while still drawing his Senate salary and perks. He had the worst attendance record – showing up only 12 times in seven years.
In the 1990s, reporters found him in Mexico and shone a light on the story before the Senate acted and brought in stricter attendance rules.
The same is now likely to happen for Nova Scotia MLAs who don't show up for work.
Jane Taber is The Globe's Atlantic bureau chief.