On the one hand it’s kind of endearing. On the other hand, it’s starting to look a lot like just old plain political evasion.
Burnaby North-Seymour Liberal MP Terry Beech has yet (as of press time today) to issue a statement on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion. He told this paper last weekend that he was working on a more substantive statement. And, to be clear, he hasn’t made any kind of statement on the decision to date other than to say he’s working on a statement.
He held a meeting at his constituency office on Saturday to hear from voters in his riding. He told this paper after that meeting that; “I spent a lot of time thinking and working on this issue, and I have a responsibility to this constituency to make sure that I put their best interests first, and part of that is going to be making sure that sharing how I feel about this matter is done with reflection.”
Well, it’s close to 11 days after Trudeau made the announcement and now Beech says his statement is probably going to be a video, and that should be released soon.
The endearing part, in case you’re wondering at this point, is that we do believe this has been a shock to Beech. And it probably reveals, we hope, that he is an idealistic and sincere man unsuspecting of the cruel turns of political leaders and politics.
But, really? A video after 11 days. That’s where potentially endearing turns into crass politics and avoidance.
The day after the announcement MP Joyce Murray, who was opposed to the pipeline, came out and said she was disappointed and clearly not pleased with the decision. She balanced that by saying she understands there are difficult decisions to be made, but she held fast to her own position. Good for her. While she knows there might very well be a political cost that she will personally pay for this decision, she didn’t go all “kumbaya” on it.
Of course, NDP MP Kennedy Stewart said that Beech should resign his seat immediately.
Perhaps that’s why Beech is taking so long to comment. Perhaps he was thinking of resigning and wants to tell constituents that he can better serve them in government dogging the Kinder Morgan project than raging as an outsider. Perhaps he’s spent days crafting the perfect script to go into a compelling video that will make critics of the pipeline feel for the “emotionally exhausted” MP who must carry the oily burden of his government’s decision. Perhaps he’s counting on Christmas chaos to grab constituents’ and the media’s attention and avoid the tough questions altogether?
We hope not.
-Pat Tracy is the editor of Burnaby NOW
