In what has to be one of the quietest visits by a cabinet minister, International Trade Minister David Emerson slipped in and out of Vernon on Thursday. Speaking to local mayors and special guests at Predator Ridge Golf Club, Emerson discussed – well we actually don’t what exactly he discussed. Although most local media were invited (the Conservative Party chose not to notify the Vernon Daily Courier), reporters were granted a 10-minute audience with Emerson. The rest of the time local media were forced to peer in through the glass at the closed-door meeting. Perhaps organizers didn’t want any ravenous reporters sneaking in to the buffet line. Hopefully, the mayors inside had better luck with the minister than the media did. When questioned by reporters, Emerson had little to say other than vague descriptions of the federal government’s Asia-Pacific Gateway plan. The Gateway plan includes projects designed to improve the flow of trade through B.C.It’s interesting to note that nearly every B.C. project is located in the Lower Mainland, other than a lone project in Prince Rupert. The single biggest ticket item is the $365 million South Fraser Perimeter Road, a route that after 30+ years of being in the planning stages, is no closer to construction. So while the federal government is committing money to pipe dream projects, fatalities mount on Highway 97 and Highway 1 seems to be closed every other weekend. But rather than talking to the public or the media and addressing these issues that hinder local trade, Emerson stayed out of the spotlight. According to his itinerary, Emerson met with officials from Northern Sky in the morning to discuss their “Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative.” The media was barred from it because of “commercially sensitive material” – likely a legitimate excuse. But why was the media barred from hearing the minister’s “perhaps 10-15 minutes on how the Pacific Gateway can impact B.C. and the B.C. Interior?” The public and the media would have enjoyed hearing how roads connecting Fraser Valley ports to Fraser Valley bridges and highways would help the B.C. Interior.
Next time a cabinet minister comes to town to duck the media, maybe he or she should just duck the media. Don’t bother letting the media know you’re coming, if you’re just going to waste time and avoid issues of local importance. Next time just inform the media that the minister is coming to Vernon, but warn us that instead of interviewing the minister, we would get more
information from a two-minute search of Google.
information from a two-minute search of Google.
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