Beyak should do the right thing and resign
THE SPECTATOR’S VIEW
Federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer would like it if Sen. Lynn Beyak disappeared quietly into the sunset. So would Beyak’s senate colleagues.
Barring something remarkable, she will fade away at some point. But it probably won’t be quick or easy. For now, she remains an independent senator, having been booted from Scheer’s caucus for refusing to remove from her website insensitive and offensive content directed at Indigenous people.
Independent senators have asked for an ethics probe, believing she has violated the Red Chamber’s Code of Conduct. The argument goes that she has not upheld “the highest standards of dignity inherent to the position of senator.” In general that appears to be true, but it may be more difficult to prove intent, and harder yet to make that a firing offence. So unless Beyak resigns — which she ought to — we can expect to continue paying her nearly $100,000 a year until her mandatory retirement at age 75.
Here’s another troubling thought. Scheer maintains that he or his designate contacted Beyak’s office and asked for some of the letters — the ones that cross the line from tone deaf and insensitive to downright racist — be removed. She is equally adamant that didn’t happen. Someone is lying. What are the odds that there is no record of that contact having been made — that no one in the leader’s office thought to write down, record or otherwise note the request from Scheer and what became of it? All the Conservative leader needs to do is produce some proof that he’s telling the truth and she’s not. Her already tattered credibility would take another hit. But absent that proof, the will remain a cloud of doubt over Scheer’s handling of Beyak’s removal. That’s not something he needs in the run-up to the 2019 election.
And what of the letters themselves? Beyak defends them and her actions in the name of free speech. It’s true that the majority are not outright racist. But some are, including one that alleges Indigenous people are lazy and only interested in what the government will give them. That she won’t remove even the worst offenders speaks volumes about Beyak’s sentiments.
As to the letters being expressions of free speech, that’s a stretch. They’re more like the kind of ignorance that you can find any day on social media. And they’re signed with first names only, or in some cases with no other identifier other than an initial. If Beyak, and the authors of these letters — if they even exist — are so sure of their right to free speech, why not sign the letters with full names and city/town identifiers? Hiding behind anonymity makes them more like internet trolls.
Beyak’s website is funded by our tax dollars. And most Canadians don’t support paying for a racist pulpit. The racist letters should be removed. And Beyak, if she’s smart, will do the honourable thing and resign.