Nova Scotians will soon decide if this matters

When Iain Rankin declared, way back on Monday, that “this is all I’ll be saying about this,” he kicked off a week where, again and again, he had to say something about it, but his song remained the same.

(Suggestion for present and future pols. If you’re planning to declare a subject closed, don’t leave behind a trail of breadcrumbs and unanswered questions.)

The good news for Liberals is that the constant craving for answers likely created as much sympathy for the premier as not. And social media posts suggest a good many Nova Scotians have heard just about enough, already.

Note, I said just about enough.

With a provincial election looming — after this week, lurking might be a better word — “this” seems certain to lurch into the campaign, which is probably not much more than a week from kickoff.

The Tories will try to chip away at the premier’s credibility and raise doubts about his character. They’ve spent this week doing just that.

The New Democrats have kept their aim squarely, and exclusively, on the premier’s lack of candour.

There are also some grumblings from within the Liberal party, because this was kept from them during the leadership race that Rankin won.

Over and over this week, Premier Rankin has expressed regret for his misspent youth when, as a 20-year-old Nova Scotian male he caroused like a 20-year-old Nova Scotian male.

But unlike most of that cohort, Iain got caught, twice, and was charged twice — but only convicted once — of drunk driving.

It’s the premier’s inability or unwillingness to speak openly about the circumstances around the second charge that’s haunted him all week.

He beat that charge when the Crown couldn’t produce an original copy of the failed breathalyzer test.

So, whether by hook, crook or law book, Rankin’s not guilty on the second charge.

Still, the premier’s caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

He can’t get into a discussion of the second charge because, other than the outcome, all available evidence is damning.

One conviction is an excusable, youthful mistake. Two drunk driving infractions are a tougher pill for Nova Scotians to swallow, hence the Liberal’s strategy to stonewall questions about incident number 2.

That leaves Rankin with just his prepared song sheet. It goes something like this: I am very sorry for my actions when I was young; I’m not that reckless kid anymore; and I look forward not back.

It’s a functional message that doesn’t answer outstanding questions, but it’s all we’re going to get.

Sometime very soon, Nova Scotians will have to decide whether it’s good enough.

I haven’t a shred of doubt that Nova Scotia’s 38-yearold premier is a different guy than the 20-something kid who drove drunk. He settled down and grew up somewhere between his early 20s and the ripe old age of 30, when he was first elected to the legislature.

At the same time, I admit to being somewhat disillusioned by Rankin, who arrived in the office with a refreshingly authentic commitment to being open and honest with Nova Scotians, only to fail — out of political or some other necessity — his first real test.

The don’t-forget-to-sayProgressive Conservatives were on this like ugly on a mole rat, but they wisely kept their leader above the fray.

The Tories want to position Tim Houston as a man with a plan for the province and smooth out the sharp edges that opposition leaders take on as an occupational hazard.

So, Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage Tory MLA Barb Adams took up the political cudgel and, the day after the premier’s disclosure, the PCs fired out a news release under her name that, while sharply critical, was entirely reasonable.

They should have maintained that tone and reasoned approach. But a day later (Wednesday) a second Tory release came out that went a bridge too far.

It sounded like the Tories were asking the premier to take a searching and fearless moral inventory.

While many of their questions merely repeated what journalists were asking, others seemed intended to raise doubts about the premier’s current drug or alcohol use, when there isn’t even an inkling that that’s an issue.

They asked, for instance, if Rankin’s ever driven under the influence of cannabis or any other drugs and whether he still drinks.

While marginally relevant in the circumstances, those questions are still out of line.

But, as noted above, within weeks — not months — Nova Scotians will decide if any of this matters enough to move votes.

Stacked up against imperatives like recovering from the pandemic, and each party's plan to get us there, Rankin’s conviction, charges and non-answers on events that happened 16 years ago seem likely to fade, if not to black, at least into the background.