What caused me to “stray,” a term my grandfather used to describe the family’s black sheep?

During my formative years, the premier was Angus L. McDonald, a man I greatly admired. I was, as my friend Bob Harvey claims to be “an Angus L. McDonald Liberal.”  In  April of 1954, I was one of thousands of Nova Scotians who lined up outside Province House to pay our last respects to one of the truly great Nova Sotians of all time.

As I nibbled around the edges of  the Liberal Party,  I  quickly became aware of the dark side of politics. In  those days, the “old boys” ran the show and the young bucks were seen and never heard. We did the grunt work and asked no questions. Especially when it came to the buying of votes.

It wasn’t a practice reserved for Grits,  I hasten to add. The Tories also played the game. The CCF  were pure, mainly because there were so few of them and the party had no money.

While it bothered me to see the distribution of the two dollar bills,  pairs of nylon stockings, pints of rum and the “Flour Boys” making their rounds,  I was more dismayed by the number of people who held out for the goodies. (“Flour Boys’ were men who loaded up their trunks with 24-pound bags of Robin Hood flour and made deliveries in return for party support.)

Thankfully, that type of  sleaze has disappeared.

What hasn’t faded into obscurity is the career politician. Maybe it is my age. Perhaps I have become jaded but I am convinced that politicians, at every level, have but one thing in mind – to get re-elected.

Why would they not?  Provincially, they cherish those gold-plated pensions, 22 per cent raises (when was the last time you got a 22 per cent raise?) and the shortest work periods in the country. And it’s all on our nickel. Have you heard any of our  Nova Scotia MLAs decry the huge raise in pay and improved expense accounts? Not a peep. It’s all about them folks, not about their constituents.

Two names come to mind when I think of what should be the ultimate goal of elected officials, that of serving the greater good: John Savage and John Hamm. Savage had the tougher row to hoe, in cleaning up the fiscal mess left behind by the free-spending Tories. He was forced to take draconian measures, which, in the end, caused even his his own party to turn on him.

John Hamm is a decent human being and his compassion for those he served shone through with every move. And he too, had to deal with the cowardly back-stabbers. Prior to his “surprise” victory in 1999, there was an element within his caucus who sought to bury him.

So how important are these elected officials in our lives? Last year, the members of the Halifax Regional School Board were fired and replaced by one man – Howard Windsor. Howard, a friend, has done a remarkable job. Why does this make me wonder if perhaps a level or two of government could be eliminated?.

(Al Hollingsworth is a retired journalist and a former riding president for a Party he no longer supports}