There's a difference in the strategy you choose depending on your goal. For the Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, the goal is overcoming the Liberal's majority in the next election and taking power. To do so, they have to pick the best leader. It must be one that they believe can build a platform and recruit voters all across the province for their MLA candidates on election day.

However, for Cecil Clarke's campaign manager, his goal is more short-term. It's to secure the leadership for Clarke regardless of whether or not there's a better person for the job.

That became evident today when Clarke's campaign manager, Chad Bowie, took to Twitter to scold a PC member. The Conservative supporter shared a link to my article listing 15 signs of trouble that can impact Cecil Clarke's political career. In the comment accompanying the link, a man named Brad Johns indicated his support for leadership rival Tim Houston. He included a call to action for other PC supporters to purchase a membership and elect Houston as the party leader.

Tim Houston is the only leadership candidate who has gone on record indicating the provincial Equalization transfers are "unfair".

That is the hottest political topic in Cape Breton right now. A protest rally today in Sydney drew hundreds of NSEF (Equalization) supporters out in force. One of their first coordinated chants was: "Hey hey, ho ho, Cecil Clarke has got to go" (see video below).

The Conservative Party of Nova Scotia has a candidate running for leadership that has hundreds protesting for an issue that Clarke doesn't support. And that's lead to many calling for his ousting as mayor. It's certainly not a good indication that he's going to pull as much support as our mayor (for ~6 years) should be able to pull in his own municipality, let alone across the rest of the province among the typical citizen.

What's best for Cecil Clarke's campaign, isn't what's best for the PC Party of Nova Scotia.

Cecil Clarke has long since used the generic term "positive" in his campaign. Instead of addressing valid criticism, many politicians, Clarke included, often try to position the critics as "negative" as a defensive mechanism. Clarke once used the phrase "those in the cheap seats".

That strategy doesn't answer to the valid criticism. It's only an attempt to avoid having to answer to it. And that's what Bowie has done in scolding a member of his own party for sharing the concerns I outlined and for choosing to support another candidate (Tim Houston).

If criticism or awareness of issues within the PC party isn't permitted, Jamie Baillie would still be the leader of the party.

Ousted leader Jamie Baillie serves as a proof of concept that it's possible for the Conservative Party to acknowledge issues with their own leaders. Imagine if Baillie had not stepped down after the sexual harassment allegations, and a PC member openly suggested that Baille should resign and be replaced by another leader.

Would Baillie's communications representative then suggest that this was "negative", and PC members shouldn't be allowed to voice concerns about PC party officials regardless of their behaviour? 

The 15 signs of trouble I noted are going to resonate with many Conservative voters for the same reason Clarke has been so controversial as a mayor in the CBRM, and for the reasons that lead to him losing so much support in his reelection bid.

The reason is... the concerns are valid.

PC voters aren't concerned with Cecil Clarke's political career. They are concerned with choosing a leader that can actually defeat the Liberals and bring their party a majority in the next provincial election.

If the campaign manager is getting defensive and scolding the party's own members, it's likely because the signs of trouble I indicated are valid, and they don't know how to answer to them.

When the mainstream media finally asks Cecil Clarke if he supports increased Equalization for the CBRM and other municipalities, that's when the chants are going to grow even louder. And it's why his campaign team is probably very hopeful that the media overlooks the question for as long as possible.

NOTE: The views expressed above are my own and do not represent lokol (goCapeBreton.com). Read more