‘Error in judgment’: Wright apologizes for N.B. trip
Northcrest Ward Coun. Stephen Wright issued an apology on Wednesday to the residents of Peterborough and New Brunswick for crossing restricted borders for a trip to New Brunswick in the middle of the COVID -19 pandemic.
But it wasn’t enough for at least two constituents. Arthur Duncan and Ingrid Buck separately contacted The Examiner on Wednesday to say they want Wright removed from
council at least temporarily, if not for good.
“Get rid of Wright: that’s my message,” said Buck in an interview. “I think he needs to do more than apologize — he put so many people at risk.”
Duncan wrote in an email that Wright’s trip was “inexcusable.”
“The mayor’s request for a public apology doesn’t go far enough,” he wrote. “She should be asking him to step down from council.”
When Mayor Diane Therrien was asked on Wednesday whether Wright could face removal from council, censure or expulsion from any committees, she wrote: “Locally, there have been suggestions about how best to proceed and we’re looking into what the impact might be.”
Wright had been under fire since The Examiner first reported online about the trip on Friday . He said he travelled there on a fact-finding mission to see for himself how the reopening of restaurants from the pandemic shutdown was working in the province while Peterborough prepares for future reopenings.
Wright then came under fire from New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and Saint John, N.B., Mayor Don Darling. Therrien also asked him to apologize.
After initially saying he was free to cross the border, Wright now admits it was “an error in judgment” and he was being “overzealous.”
“To the residents of New Brunswick and Peterborough, I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for my recent trip to New Brunswick in the month of May,” Wright wrote in his apology. “I take my role as a city councillor very seriously and do not consider that to provide me with any special privileges. I made an error in judgment by travelling to New Brunswick during this pandemic.
“My overzealous approach to research the restaurant sector in the anticipation of reopening our economy, and for that I am truly sorry.
“To Premier Higgs, and the residents of New Brunswick who have not been able to return home to be with their loved ones during to this unprecedented pandemic; I receive your criticisms and hope you accept my deepest regrets. I will have no further comment on this matter.”
On Sunday Higgs said “a full investigation” into Wright’s trip had been launched to learn what questions were asked at the border and what answers Wright supplied.