Nova Scotia Tories, former leader need to better explain dismissal: PR expert
As speculation swirls around the sudden dismissal of Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservative leader, a public relations specialist says the public needs to be told more about what happened.
Barbara Emodi, who teaches crisis communications at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, said Friday that either Jamie Baillie or the party have to come forward because the public wants to know.
Baillie was forced to quit on Wednesday after an investigation found he acted inappropriately and breached the legislature’s policy on workplace harassment.
“Speculation is often worse than reality,” Emodi said in an interview. “You are in a crisis and none of it is nice. Not talking about it is not going to make it nice, so I think both the party and Jaimie Baillie really need to come clean.”
To date, scant information has come to light and party officials and those with party ties remained tight-lipped Friday.
Party president Tara Miller has said the Tories launched an independent, third-party probe into Baillie’s behaviour after a sexual harassment claim was brought to their attention late last month by a staff person.
She said caucus then gave its support to the party’s decision to seek Baillie’s resignation.
Emodi, who previously served as communications manager for the provincial NDP caucus between 2001 and 2007, said it would be the best thing for the Tories’ image to do something quickly because it’s an issue that
can’t be left hanging during a leadership campaign.
“You can’t go into a leadership convention with all this hanging over you,” she said.
She said Baillie has had a public image as being ethical and needs to come forward with some clarity for the sake of his own reputation.
“You really do have to tell your own story and the only way to wrap this up for anyone involved is to get all of it out.”
Baillie announced last fall that he would step down after serving as Tory leader since 2010, but said he would remain in the post until a new leader was chosen.
Emodi said although she realizes there are concerns around protecting the identity of the woman who made the claim against Baillie, public attitude has shifted because of the behaviour
that has been exposed in various fields over the last year.
“The public atmosphere has changed dramatically and rapidly and there is no sense of victim shaming anymore in any of this,” she said. “If anything women are seen as heroes for doing this and bringing this kind of behaviour to a stop.”
Baillie also resigned as the member for Cumberland South, and Premier Stephen McNeil said Thursday that he would deal with a byelection once he returns from a 10-day trade mission to Asia.
“I’ll give it some thought,” said McNeil. “Typically when I’ve had to call byelections I haven’t waited that long.”
McNeil has six months to set a date for a byelection under provincial law, and the vote itself can be set up to another six months after that.