Clear city policy a solid solution

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/09/2011 (5304 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In using the Brandon Firehall No. 1 for a campaign announcement on Saturday, the governing New Democrats did not break any regulations under Manitoba’s Elections Act.

But the use of the fire hall — or any government-owned property, for that matter — for the purpose of political campaigning does raise a few concerns.

Over the weekend, opposition parties cried foul over NDP Leader Greg Selinger’s campaign announcement in Brandon, which featured two diagonally parked ambulances in front of the fire hall, an NDP message banner located behind a podium that blocked some of the garage doors and a number of on- and off-duty firefighters/paramedics standing behind the premier.

While Selinger was there to promise more firefighters for the city, his use of the fire hall itself as an election prop prompted Progressive Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen and Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard to question Selinger’s ethics.

“Tying up a fire station that is used for public safety is really not the way to go,” McFadyen said. “We had a justice announcement (Saturday in Brandon) at a public park with an off-duty police officer there because we didn’t want to tie up people involved in public safety with a political announcement.”

Gerrard called for rules under the elections act to be tightened in advance of the next provincial election four years from now.

“They should not be politicizing emergency services that way and the election act was written to prevent this.”

The use of municipal, provincial or federal government property for campaign purposes is a little questionable, as it violates the spirit — if not the letter — of the law. However, given that no law has been violated, we believe the Tories and the Grits are probably just kicking themselves that they didn’t think to ask the City of Brandon for permission to do the same.

And therein lies the problem — they still can.

Brandon Mayor Shari Decter Hirst, who approved the NDP request to use the fire hall for a political announcement, said she had “no problem” with the request because the fire hall is a public building, and that any party who had asked would have been given the same permission.

The mayor, who has ties to the New Democrats, said she was not concerned about any potential hindrance to Brandon’s emergency services during the announcement, as the firefighters would see any emergency as a priority over a campaign announcement.

Not all councillors agreed with her. Brandon deputy Mayor Jim McCrae told the Sun he had some ethical concerns about the situation, and that personal politics “should stay outside city hall.”

While he too was concerned about appearing neutral during a provincial election campaign, Coun. Stephen Montague (Richmond) said his biggest concern would be the use of on-duty staff assisting with campaign announcements while being paid by the city.

What if this week, every single other political party asked to have a political announcement at the police station or the fire hall? At what point would the city say our officers and firefighters are being hindered from doing their jobs? How many political announcements are too many, and at what point do you say no?

Because certainly if we allow one political party to distract on-duty emergency services personnel, we should allow all parties an equal opportunity. It’s an all-or-none situation.

Whether Manitoba really needs to strengthen the Elections Act as Gerrard suggests is debatable. It’s unlikely that Manitobans outside political circles really care as long as emergency services aren’t affected.

We think the creation of a straight-forward city policy regarding the use of public buildings during election campaigns would be a better solution. Such political requests should not be left up to the mayor’s office to decide.