Ontario councillor apologizes for 10-day road trip to New Brunswick

A city councillor from Peterborough has apologized for his 10-day road trip to New Brunswick, calling it "an error in judgment."

Stephen Wright says in a written statement he is offering "my sincerest apologies" to Premier Blaine Higgs and New Brunswickers, especially those living outside the province who can't travel home to be with loved ones.

"I receive our criticisms and hope you accept my deepest regrets," he said.

He said his decision to travel here to look at the economic impact of restaurants reopening as part of a COVID-19 recovery plan represented an "overzealous approach … and for that I am truly sorry." 

Wright said he would not do any interviews or comment further on the episode, which provoked the ire of New Brunswickers in light of the province's ban on non-essential travel.

On Sunday, Higgs said Wright's explanation for the trip "does not seem like a legitimate reason to come into the province."

Trip not sanctioned by city, says mayor

Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien told CBC News on Wednesday that the trip contradicted Peterborough's own pandemic advice to its citizens.

"Now is not the time to do any kind of fact-finding mission or any kind of travel," she said. 

"We've been asking everybody to abide by staying at home, physical distancing … Certainly this behaviour is not reflective of what we're asking our residents to do and not reflective of city policy or what my office wants to see or our councillors behave."

Therrien repeated in the interview what she said in a emailed statement on Monday: "this was not a trip that was sanctioned by the city, or paid for, or known about."

Wright said Monday he was paying for the trip himself.

He said in his statement Wednesday he takes his councillor role "very seriously and do not consider that to provide me with any special privileges."

Inconsistencies

The first-term councillor is involved with economic development issues in Peterborough and said he wanted to research how restaurants were faring in New Brunswick now that they were allowed to partially reopen.

He said he made the trip in part because business groups he contacted ahead of time didn't respond to his questions on the subject.

But four business organizations told CBC News this week they had no record of Wright trying to contact them.

An initial report in the Peterborough Examiner described the trip as lasting one weekend and said Wright stayed in his car the entire time.

He told CBC News this week he was misunderstood because of a poor phone connection and the trip lasted 10 days. He said he stayed in a private home in the province, in a separate unit from the owner, and assessed restaurant reopenings from his car.

He would not say where exactly he stayed to avoid "shaming" of his New Brunswick acquaintance, he said Monday.

He arrived May 14 and left May 23. 

Therrien said in a video interview via Zoom that Wright "is a very involved councillor. He takes a lot of initiative. I think that this was not the best judgment call, but he is alway very interested in what is happening in other places and how we might learn from them.

"But I think this was not obviously a good time or an opportune moment to learn anything about what's going on that couldn't be done over the phone or these types of platforms." 

Therrien said she spoke Wednesday morning to Saint John Mayor Don Darling, one of the first to question Wright's trip.

She said Darling acknowledged that "as mayors we're not always totally in control of what councillors do" and told her it was time to "move past this now."

Wright said in the Peterborough Examiner report that he had talked his way into New Brunswick by discussing with enforcement officers whether the travel ban went against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

New Brunswick officials are now investigating what the officers asked him and what answers he gave them.

"We are aware of Councillor Wright's apology letter, but his visit remains under investigation," said Public Safety spokesperson Geoffrey Downey.