Reporters try not to personally call out politicians. The reason is simple: We need them for quotes and information.
In some ways reporters also relate to local leaders; we follow them around like disgruntled rock-band groupies from tedious meetings to numerous community events. Thus, we see that generally speaking our politicians are accessible and work hard.
Whatever you may think of Mayor Patricia Heintzman’s policies, she’s accessible to citizens and to media, as all politicians should be. The Chief has a standing weekly meeting with Heintzman. The other Squamish councillors are also accessible, though they are not in the public eye quite as much because most have to work second jobs to hold office, which pays a pittance.
MLA Jordan Sturdy is in town often and returns calls to The Chief, even when he knows we may want to grill him.
Now we come to MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones. Ask any reporter who has interviewed her and you are sure to hear she is intelligent, well-versed and open, and that was our experience at The Chief in the run up to the federal election.
But I’ve heard anecdotally that Goldsmith-Jones, former mayor of West Vancouver, has not been particularly attentive to Squamish since she won her seat: Cancelling meetings with citizens until national media picked up their story, for example, and missing some annual events. (To be fair, she was in town this weekend for the coordinated evacuation exercise media event.)
In some cases, Goldsmith-Jones’ office has either ignored The Chief requests or said she won’t comment. I can’t judge her only based by my own experience or a couple of constituents’ testimonials, so on Sept. 20, I requested her itinerary over the last year.
I wanted to see how often she had been in Squamish compared to the rest of the riding. On Sept 21, her office said I would get the document by Sept. 23. On Sept. 23, her office sent an email confirming details of my request.
On Sept. 29, I asked why the documents never came: No reply. I would like to give Goldsmith-Jones the benefit of the doubt, but the lack of response makes me a bit more disgruntled, and it should concern you, her Squamish constituents, too.
**Please note this column has been corrected since it was first posted. The original post stated Goldsmith-Jones did not attend the Sikh Martyrdom of the Fifth Guru, however she did attend. The Chief regrets this error.
