Cop and cabbie vying for mayor’s seat

2012 election candidates stepping up

They’re two of Halifax’s mayoral hopefuls, and hypothetically they could have been out on the same night: one picking up drunks, and the other locking them up.

Retired police officer Tom Martin has stepped into the political arena, announcing his intent to take Halifax mayor Peter Kelly’s spot. In the meantime, taxi/tow truck driver David Boyd is ready to go another round, despite having been thoroughly bested in 2008.

Martin, on top of his thirty years of police work, ran Sheila Fougere’s mayoral campaign in 2008, which did much better than Boyd’s bid for the position.

Fougere obtained approximately 41 per cent of the vote, while Boyd had only a 2 per cent showing of support as per the official 2008 Halifax election results. Martin has yet to release a platform, but he has launched a website, ask4more.ca, asking HRM residents what they want. Martin’s most recent and most highlighted experience with the police service was as a detective.

Boyd has no official platform at present, but his past statements to the media are of an alternative sort. His 2008 campaign centered on making Halifax a more vibrant and exciting scene, and the Halifax Metro quoted him as calling for a “Vegas of the East,” complete with more strip clubs, casinos and perhaps an amusement park.

With 13 months still to come before the election is held, there is still plenty of time for things to take shape. At time of press, Peter Kelly has yet to make a statement regarding his intention to re-offer for the position, which would be an attempt at his twelfth year as mayor.