Leaving government job worth the risk, says PC candidate

A long-time government employee says she was surprised her leave request to run in the upcoming election was turned down, but leaving her job is worth the risk.

Sheila Fitzgerald said she's worked with the department of children, seniors and social development, in the area of child protection services, for 21 years.

Over the weekend, Fitzgerald tweeted she'd left the job to enter the election race as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the St. Barbe-L'Anse aux Meadows district, where Christopher Mitchelmore is the Liberal incumbent.

"When I put in my leave, I was hopeful and I thought that it should be OK, because I know a lot of people that work with government and got it approved," Fitzgerald said. "The response that I got back was, unfortunately we can't approve your leave because you have discretion over the provision of services to persons, business or other organizations."

Fitzgerald said she's allowed to approve spending up to $250, which she didn't think was a big deal.

"Where I sit in the chain of command, I'm not very close to the top, I'm closer to the front-line, if anything," she told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

For its part, the Human Resources Secretariat said in a release there is a policy to address a need for balance between employees' rights to engage in political activity, and the requirement for provincial officials to be politically impartial.

"Due to the nature of their current duties and responsibilities, some employees are considered to be politically restricted," reads a release from the department. "Politically restricted employees who choose to engage in political activity, including candidacy for elected office, are required to resign prior to carrying out such political activity."

While it's not what Fitzgerald expected to have to do, she said it was worth leaving her job, and all its benefits.

She's been the mayor of Roddickton-Bide Arm for the last six years, and making a move toward provincial politics made sense to her.

"This is just the next step. This is what I've been trained to do," she said.

She says when talking with the department about what would happen to her job if she didn't win the election, she was told they'd talk about that when, or if, the time came.

Fitzgerald isn't the only one who has had to leave her job to run.

'I am very committed'

NDP Leader Alison Coffin said she resigned her job at Memorial University's faculty association to run in St. John's East-Quidi Vidi.

"I resigned my position 23 months into a 24-month probationary period, but I am very committed to this role, and so that was just the right thing for me to do," she said.

"I wasn't about to take a leave of absence for that, although … I did have provisions for that," she said.

Coffin said she wants to stay on as NDP leader for the next decade, so now it's just a matter of getting elected, but acknowledges for political first-timers, having to leave one's job would "absolutely" be a deterrent.

"The faculty association was in the process of restructuring, as well, so this actually worked out well for both of us. It does however leave me without a salary or any benefits for the next little while, but that's OK," she said. "If I don't get elected, there's always the hope of a byelection."

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