I'll save you the time of trying to translate the title. If Google Translate did its job well, it asks the question:

Mayor Cecil Clarke: Why were you in China?

It's an important question people in the CBRM have been asking. After Clarke's official announcement that he's running for the provincial PC leadership position, it's very significant in relation to some of the doublespeak we've been hearing about why he won't do the ethical thing and resign as mayor.

Let's recap two of the primary reasons staying on as mayor while seeking another political job is a bad idea:

(1) it's a conflict of interest in roles, and

(2) it takes away from time/focus representing the CBRM.

The mayor has been very busy with media interviews since his weekend announcement. Despite him claiming his campaign won't affect his job as our Mayor, on the very first day of public council afterwards, he skipped out on the council meeting to do an interview with a Halifax radio station. That's not a very good start in convincing us he can do both effectively.

The mayor has focused his explanation on why his campaign is permitted and not in conflict by relying on the Municipal Government Act to give him cover. It doesn't obligate him to step down.

So far he's been largely free of answering how he can run a campaign compatible with the PC party that will help them out across the province, and still be the mayor of the CBRM whose job is to focus entirely on our needs as a municipality.

What if what's good for the PC party and the rest of the province conflicts with what we're seeking as the CBRM? Whose interests will he prioritize?

Clarke's next challenge was to figure out a way to describe how focusing on the job he really wants isn't going to jeopardize his ability to serve as our full-time mayor - a job we already know he's intent on leaving.

He actually told Information Morning the following:

"You have to look at, in any role of mayor, it's what you're required to do, versus what you choose to do, which is extra."

Instead of admitting that he's going to have less time to serve as our mayor, he's suggesting that the work he's been doing has been "extra".

He's implying that he'll now focus only on what he's "required" to do... such as attend council meetings without leaving to campaign?

The mayor is only 49-years-old, but he's apparently inclined towards a more old school way of thinking when it comes to political strategy. It's not clear that he understands how carefully some niche groups of the public are paying such close attention and fighting for accountability.

Collectively, they have the ability to parse through and unravel his words. Consider how he suggested to Information Morning's Steve Sutherland that his diminished focus as Mayor is actually acceptable because his workload has been reduced with the container port being out of his hands:

"The reality is, the port is now officially over with the private sector developers. It'll come back when necessary for council and my own engagement. But, you know half of what I've been spending my time on is no longer there."

It leads us back to our initial question of why the Mayor was in China. You see, on November 20th the Mayor and Council approved an option agreement. It allows the port marketers/developers to purchase or lease the land whenever they choose to execute it with a $10 Million payment to take possession of the land.

And that is where the mayor bases his claim that Council has moved on. His lengthy closing speech provided thanks and appreciation to everyone. It would certainly appear to support his case that it was all done.

But then in December 2017, a month later and at a cost of over $25,000, the mayor, the CAO, the Economic Development Officer, and his executive assistant flew to China.

It was soon disclosed that not only did he go to China and bring his colleagues, he did so in more expensive first-class seats because he claims to have arthritis and was avoiding discomfort. The Municipal Government Act that gives him some cover for staying on as Mayor isn't as forgiving with the premium travel expenses.

The Cape Breton Spectator is the absolute best in the CBRM for getting the missing answers. They tried to get an explanation of the itinerary while in China and ran into a CBRM wall.

Key point: After Clarke said that his role as Mayor is done with the port file... he was still flying to China on the port file afterwards.

So are we to believe that the port file really is wrapped up and he was on an unnecessary (and expensive) trip to China, or there really is more work to do?

There's at least one more person in the CBRM that thinks there is much more work to do. And that person is Mayor Cecil Clarke himself. The same Mayor Cecil Clarke that suggests now that he doesn't have to put in as much time on the port file.

Don't take my word for it. Take his:

"Yet the milestone we have achieved today is not the final outcome and we have much more work to do"

"It is an atypical file. No municipal government in Canada has the weight of responsibility administratively or politically than the CBRM."

"But as I've indicated we have a lot of work to do. We now must go and bring home the shippers and the criteria that's necessary..."

On day 1, he already left a public council session to do a campaign interview with a Halifax radio station. His campaign is clearly going to have an adverse impact on his mayoral duties.

Why would we believe that the $1.5 Billion container port he's hinged our future on is actually ok being left on cruise control now, when he's telling council we "have much more work to do" and "and no municipal government in Canada has the weight of responsibility administratively or politically than the CBRM"?

That sounds like an awful lot of work, and an awful lot of importance to selfishly suggest that he has the time and focus to run a provincial campaign at the same time as fulfilling his duties as our Mayor.

What we really have is a mayor that doesn't want this job.

It wasn't his campaign announcement that revealed this for the first time. He told us the very night he was elected to his second term as Mayor. He was not going to serve another term. This was it for him.

Most people in politically-minded circles didn't expect him to complete the four years with the provincial and federal roles he's coveted sitting on the near horizon and whetting his appetite for career advancement.

Political success is uncertain. Political campaigns can be lengthy and costly. And he appears to be in no hurry to give up the CBRM as a backup plan. It's not the job that he wants, but it is the one that deposits his paycheque and buys him more time.

Don't buy into the fact that the CBRM is doing so well we can get by without the full focus of a mayor that wants the job. He's just hedging his bets.

As for what he was doing in China. Eventually, someone will come up with a good explanation. My money is on the Cape Breton Spectator.

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