Political crash

It’s not unusual for governments to face scandals. And some of those scandals can live on well after the people at the centre of them are no longer in politics. But the political parties to which they belong often bear the brunt of the action of those associated with the scandal.

Nova Scotia’s political system has not been without its share of incidents that have spelled doom for politicians.

The latest to make the headlines involves cabinet minister Ernie Fage, who resigned last week after allegations that he left the scene of an accident in Halifax one night in November.

Last year there was also the news that the premier and his wife were estranged, this coming not too long after his party paraded from one end of the province to the other extolling family values.

In a province where we are polite to the point of appearing disinterested, the stories surrounding the premier have made the gossip rounds but really not the headlines.

In the Fage case if anyone wanted to see politicians in a small pond swimming against the tide, they need only have watched reporters ask Fage and the premier questions on the matter.

The premier, in his official press release on the matter Friday, said he had accepted Fage’s resignation and managed by way of explanation to say only: "Mr. Fage was involved in a car accident on Nov. 24 in Halifax. Mr. Fage did not want this incident to be a distraction from his job or from the work of government, so he offered his resignation and I have accepted."

Sure, Mr.Premier, every politician involved in an accident has to resign, right? Does he really think anyone’s buying that? Or are there thousands of people out there thinking well what else happened that night?

Clearly politicians in this province must think we’re all fools if they think in the face of situations that will undoubtedly affect their futures they can continue to mouth lines straight out of the era when everything a politician said was taken as gospel.

That’s not the case any more.

People realize that politicians are no different from the rest of the population; they just choose a different occupation. And as such most people realize they too are human, not gods immune to the temptations or problems of life.

When a situation like the Fage one crops up, and there will be more, the people involved ought to fess up, tell it like it is, and lay their cards directly on the table instead of repeating things over and over as if by so doing the story will go away.

It won’t go away.

But come the next trip to the polls some of the politicians playing that game may.