In a move that surprised many, St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse dropped out of the Alberta Liberal Party leadership race this week, just two days before the nomination deadline. At the time, no other candidate had entered the race.
Crouse announced his decision with a statement posted on his website. He did not give an explanation for his decision to leave the race.
“While many may wonder the reason(s) for this decision, the reasons will be kept private and I will provide “no comment” as to these varied questions and associated speculation,” said Crouse in the release.
Predictably, this statement led to plenty of speculation from members of the public. Some speculated that Crouse would instead run for mayor again, but Crouse did confirm to the Gazette that he doesn’t intend to do that.
Crouse choosing to leave the race, especially so close to the nomination deadline, does not help the Alberta Liberal Party. The decision to leave the race seemed to come out of nowhere, especially compared to his decision to enter the race. Crouse spent months deliberating about his plans for this year before deciding not to seek re-election as mayor. He announced in January he was considering a run for the Liberals and in early March, he officially launched his leadership bid.
With no other candidates, Crouse looked like the Liberal leader-in-waiting and even if another candidate emerged late in the race, Crouse would’ve had a month-long head start.
By dropping out of the race at the eleventh hour, Crouse has certainly raised a lot of questions, something his brief statement acknowledged would happen. If Crouse’s reason to leave the race is related to a family or health issue then he is more than excused for his decision and he need not offer any further explanation. He later confirmed that it was not health related, but there is still no public explanation.
If someone makes a public declaration that they are seeking a political office, they owe the public an explanation when they change their mind. Crouse certainly must have his reasons for bowing out and the public should know them. Refusing to do so without an explanation just incites further speculation. Does he believe his ideals no longer fit with the Liberal party? After he made his decision to run, did he then find out something about the Liberals he didn’t like? Did he read the tea leaves and come to the conclusion there was no hope?
Dropping out of a leadership race is nothing new; St. Albert resident Stephen Khan dropped out of the PC race in late January. There’s no shame in dropping out of a race. But Khan was willing to speak openly about his reasoning, something Crouse hasn’t done yet.
There’s more to this story and the public deserves an explanation. It is, of course, Crouse’s prerogative to stay silent. His decision, however, further weakens the Alberta Liberal Party, which is already on life support. Crouse told the people of Alberta why he wanted to run for the leadership, they deserve to know why he doesn’t want to anymore.
