Halifax mayor undecided about reoffering

With less than 24 hours to decide, Mayor Peter Kelly says he hasn't yet decided if he'll reoffer for mayor or run for a council seat in Bedford.

The official deadline by which all candidates must declare if they will be candidates in municipal elections next month is Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Kelly said in February he would not reoffer, following a scandal showing he had failed in his duty as executor of a friend's estate.

However, in July, Kelly said he might run for a council seat in Bedford, where he started in municipal politics.

Kelly said Monday he's not sure what he'll do.

"Over the last few weeks … I have received hundreds of calls, emails, face to face, to encourage me to look at running for mayor or for council," he said.

"The deadline is tomorrow, I can honestly say I have not made a final decision one way or the other."

Meanwhile, Vince Hall and Matthew Worona — two candidates in the race to become mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality — have both dropped out of the election.

Hall, a former councillor with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, sent out a news release on Monday and said he's throwing his support behind former Liberal MP Mike Savage.

"Given that the campaign is essentially just commencing, I have recently met with Mr. Savage and we had a discussion around his ideas and vision for the city including how much of an effort he has put into reaching out to people throughout HRM," Hall said in a release.

"After mulling things over, I have decided to support his candidacy as his political experience and skills will be an asset in the mayor's position."

Several hours later, Worona sent out a release and said he had come to a "crossroads" in his campaign.

"Attending university, working a full time job and running a campaign takes a significant chunk of time," he said.

"I have concluded that I am unable to maintain that commitment, and have therefore decided to withdraw from the 2012 mayoral election."

Worona said he would be supporting Waye Mason, who is running as a councillor for District 7.

There are now three mayoralty candidates for the Halifax Regional Municipality: Savage, former police officer Tom Martin and entrepreneur Fred Connors.