A full house of Chamber of Commerce members and paying guests arrived at Pepe and Gringo's restaurant Tuesday (Feb. 21) to hear newly elected MP Blair Wilson discuss whatever he was going to discuss.
Neither the Chamber nor anyone else found out what Wilson's been up to since the election because he didn't show up. It's the second time Wilson eschewed a Chamber luncheon, and his absence is becoming conspicuous.
"Come on!" I hear readers saying out there. "Give the guy a break. He just got elected and he's busy getting oriented with the ways of the feds all the way out in Ottawa."
Well yes and no. The Chamber was told mere minutes before Wilson was to show up that he'd made a last-minute decision to go to Torino. Sure, it seems obvious that as the federal representative of a riding that's involved in 2010, Wilson should be at the 2006 Olympics. But what happened? Did he get a last-minute seat sale then, once on the plane, slapped his forehead and said: "Jeez! I forgot all about Squamish!"? Here I thought Wilson was different.
Let's review.
During his 2004 campaign, Wilson said MP John Reynolds was too wrapped up in things other than constituency issues. "What's John Reynolds done for us? Zero," he said. Back then, Wilson promised to have a constituency office in Squamish. He separated himself from the pack in part by promising unwavering accessibility.
In the last campaign, Wilson amended that constituency office to a "digital constituency office". But he continued his assurances, saying: "It's one thing to be accessible over the internet but I'd also like to be available to the people, to listen to the people in the riding, and to allow the people to come out and voice their problems in person." He also handed out dozens of cards with a grin and a "Call me anytime."
Now back to the present.
The number on all those cards he handed out mere weeks ago now connects to a pleasant recorded voice saying: "This number is out of service." The only contact information I could find with a 613 area code (i.e. Ottawa) that appeared to be associated to Wilson has a cryptic message stating that I've reached the phone number I just dialed, thus giving me no idea who I've reached. I found West Vancouver number that still has a message stating that I reached Blair Wilson, but by press time, my message had yet to be returned.
It gives me pause that he's made no attempt to publicly reach out to Squamish since his election, an event that may not have occurred at all if the Squamish political wind had blown a different way.
Add to that the luncheon no-shows, and now you've got yourself a head-scratcher.
Mr. Wilson, don't be a stranger. Give us a call, would you?
