At tonight's CBRM Council meeting, Councillor Ray Paruch made a discovery that was lost on the other members of Council.

Specifically, he realized that if you want to know whether or not Mayor Clarke intends to resign or stay on as mayor, whether he (a) wins the PC leadership, or (b) loses it... you can... ask him.

And that's exactly what Councillor Paruch did. He asked him. As the title of this article has already been a spoiler as to what happened next, I think it's interesting to note that an early motion at Council was to acknowledge the International Right to Know Day:

"Each year on September 24, approximately 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations celebrate Right to Know Day. The purpose of Right to Know is to raise awareness of an individual’s right to access government information while promoting freedom of information as essential to both democracy and good governance."

Despite paying lip service to the idea of embracing transparency as a Council, Mayor Clarke's voice that can be so Alfie-MacLeod-esque when he gets to a podium at a PC leadership debate answered only with silence.

His closest allies on Council overcompensated for their absolute silence in the previous council session when the issue was raised. They used their speaking time primarily to either heap praise upon the mayor, or (in the case of Councillor Bruckschwaiger) take shots at one of the CBRM Council's most valuable players, namely Earlene MacMullin.

The support wasn't without a sprinkle of paradox as points were raised by a veteran councillor as to Clarke's commitment of 18 hour days, and CAO Marie Walsh's giggling assertion that staff would be able to fully handle everything without the mayor.

With those otherwise supportive statements of Mayor Clarke's carte blanche to do as he chooses and tell us at last minute, Clarke found himself floating in the expansive void that lies between divergent views of him as a vital leader or one who is essentially completely unnecessary and wouldn't be missed.

With Clarke's refusal to answer as to his intentions if he wins the PC leadership, many veteran councillors made their best effort to shame the best and most progressive councillors for their attempt to plan for all outcomes, and be prepared for what's to come if the mayor is successful or not.

While Clarke gets to moonlight as a PC leadership candidate while maintaining his position as mayor and collecting his full salary from the CBRM, he doesn't have to respect the taxpayers and residents of the CBRM enough to actually let them know his true intentions.

Instead of the mayor being accountable to the needs of the CBRM, it seems like the script has been flipped, and the people of the CBRM are supposed to now serve the best interests of the mayor in his bid to move onto greener (or maybe bluer) pastures.

Solicitor Demetri Kachafanas' issue paper was dismissive of the idea of there being any conflict with the CBRM mayor fulfilling two different roles. Though the solicitor would draw doubt about the existence of a conflict, it's difficult to explain away how PC candidate Clarke is campaigning against Equalization (i.e. abolishing it) while Mayor Clarke and Council (by motion) unanimously support pursuing more of it. It does, however, make it much easier to understand the large support for rival PC candidate Tim Houston who has pledged to increase our Equalization funding for the CBRM by $15 Million dollars.

We shouldn't really be any more surprised at Clarke's refusal to answer the question than Ray Paruch. Councillor Paruch is fully aware of Mayor Clarke's reputation within the CBRM for the amount of information he withholds, and oftentimes how difficult it is for elected Council to get the information they seek.

If information can be difficult to get from him while he's mayor, imagine how difficult it will be when he's gone. That's why the smartest members of Council wanted to plan for such a scenario.

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