Kathy Goudie, the Tory member of the legislature for Humber Valley, is in a bit of political pickle.
Goudie, a registered nurse, has been working out of the province in order to retain her nursing license. Like many professionals, a registered nurse must practice her profession for a certain number of hours within a certain period of time in order to be considered actively practicing.
According to the Telegram, Goudie has been working - at least some of the time - at the Baffin regional hospital in Iqaluit. The Telegram also notes that Goudie was in the Northwest Territories legislature in Yellowknife on October 26. The Telegram knew she was out of the province because Goudie's presence in the visitors' gallery was recognized by the speaker of the territorial legislature.
Again, according to the Telegram, Goudie's absence from the province was noted in her district, in part because she participated in a meeting on the Nicholsville bridge by teleconference from somewhere the Great White North.
On the face of it, Goudie's explanation - that she was working to retain her professional license - is perfectly valid. No reasonable person would object. While the Telegram story notes the wage differential between this province and the Northwest Territories, and that there are casual nursing jobs available in her own district, there are convincing reasons for Goudie not to work in this province.
Her position as a member of the government caucus makes it extremely difficult if not impossible for her potential co-workers and patients to look past her political involvement as she practices her profession. To make it even more plain, consider that for most of the past three years, nurses have been in a wage dispute with the government administration Goudie supports.
Goudie's circumstances make it almost impossible for her to work anywhere in this province. She simply has too many potential problems that would affect her relationships with her co-workers, patients and hospital administrators. Any reasonable person would appreciate those circumstances and support her choice to work in another province for the limited number of hours needed to retain her professional credentials.
Unfortunately for Goudie, that wasn't the way she approached media inquires. When the telegram called her, she stated that what she did on her vacation time was her own business. She stonewalled. The Telegram quotes her as saying, "I'm sorry, when I go on my vacation, what I do on my vacation is my vacation. If and when I do go away and if and when I do go nursing, I'll call you."
This is a classic case of someone shooting himself or herself in the foot.
Goudie would have known or should have known that her working outside the province might be an issue for some people. At some point, the media were likely to get the story and ask her about it. Had she answered straightforwardly, they would have or should have reported - equally straightforwardly what her response was.
By stonewalling or obfuscating, Goudie aroused suspicion on the part of the reporter involved. He dug deeper and came with some other information. Now the whole thing looks pretty damaging for Goudie. Her response fueled suspicion and the subsequent media stories leave her in a spot where her explanation - once finally revealed - just isn't really as credible as it should be.
Goudie will likely be faced with some tough media questioning when the provincial legislature re-opens on Monday. She will certainly find herself criticized, and supported, on the province's talk radio shows. All of that makes her job as a member of the legislature difficult and it shouldn't be.
In short, Goudie shot herself in the foot on this one not by working outside the province but by giving a boneheaded media response that any public relations person - let alone an experienced, competent one - would have counseled her against.
All she can do now is tough it out, stick to her line and hope that the whole thing blows over. If she winds up with other details being disclosed, then she will lose another toe or toes.
And hey, it's not like the Telegram story is not without its own inconsistencies.
For example, the Baffin hospital is in Iqaluit, Nunavut. As the Telegram acknowledged, while they got through to a voice mail for a Kathy Goudie, they couldn't confirm they had the right person.
The Northwest Territories, though, is another region entirely with its own legislature. The Nunavut legislature opens on Tuesday. I know this because Offal New's Simon Lono is headed back to Baffin Island to edit and produce the territorial legislature's edition of Hansard. Linking the two places - Iqaluit and Yellowknife - is like saying Goudie worked in St. John's but she turned up in the Alberta legislature. Goudie may well have been in Yellowknife on other business.
The problem for Goudie, though, is that her initial response was to avoid answering even the simplest questions.
She's down one toe. Depending on how she handles the issue over the next couple of days, she might get off with a bandaid. But if the Telegram or other news media find out she has some major position in Iqaluit, the distance between Yellowknife and the Nunavut capital won't spare another toe or two from the self-inflicted shotgun blast to her credibility.
How she comes out of it all politically is down to a simple matter of how quickly she discloses all the relevant information...
or how many toes she has left.
