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TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Day supports Tegart at Merritt meet-and-greet By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Ex-Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day showed his support for the BC Liberals when he stopped by Brambles Bakery and Cafe on April 10 with Liberal Fraser-Nicola MLA candidate Jackie Tegart for breakfast and a meet-and-greet. Tegart said she is grateful for Day’s support as she gears up for the campaign ahead of the May 14 provincial election, which is slated to kick off after the writ drops today. “I think it’s wonderful that Stockwell Day has stepped up and said that he supports the Liberals in this so-very-important election,” Tegart said. Stockwell Day (right) and Fraser-Nicola MLA candidate for the Liberals Jackie Tegart met with supporters Wednesday at Brambles. Day served as the Minister Emily Wessel/Herald
of International Trade and the Minister for Public Safety in the mid-2000s under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and did not seek re-election in 2011. Day told a crowd of about 30 people in Merritt that working with Liberals while he was a Conservative minister and having known Tegart for years on the provincial political circuit made supporting the party a natural transition. “I worked with the BC Liberals back when I was formerly in government as a Conservative, and have seen first-hand as a B.C. citizen the positive results of their economic policies,” he said. “I’ve supported them in the past and I certainly support them now.”
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Councillor calls out economic officer over web post By Craig Lindsay THE HERALD
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The ongoing saga at city hall continued at Tuesday’s city council meeting. Coun. Alastair Murdoch suggested that council deal with James Umpherson, city economic development manager. Umpherson had written a review about the Merritt Ramada Inn on tripadvisor.com. The comments were posted on April 5 about a stay that happened in Sept. 2011. The owner of the Ramada, Anoop Sekhon, is also the president of Tourism Nicola Valley, an organization that the city is looking at no longer working with. “We were first made aware of it on Sunday,” he said. “We’re in contact with
the city and with tripadvisor. com. We’re just working on the process so there’s not much to comment on at this time.” As the Ramada owner, Sekhon said he receives all the comments posted on sites such as tripadvisor.com. He was disappointed that a city official would malign a local business like that. “It was unprovoked,” he said. “It should’ve never happened. He’s the economic development manager. He should be supporting local tourism rather than breaking them down and saying negative comments about them. That’s my personal opinion.” Sekhon, who was at the council meeting on April 9, said he has been told the city is dealing with the issue
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internally. “It’s part of their process to deal with it in-house,” he said. Merritt Mayor Susan Roline said Coun. Murdoch was not allowed to bring up the concern with Umpherson at the council meeting. “Again, it’s a councillor going down a road he’s not supposed to go on,” she said. “You cannot bring up staff in an open, public meeting. That has to be done in an in-camera meeting.” Roline would not comment any further on the matter. In a statement released on Saturday, Umpherson said: “In my opinion, the comments made at council are defamatory and I am seeking legal advice.”
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can follow up on them so we don’t develop a bad reputation. So it’s a balance for them. It’s customer feedback. I have to ask, why is this an issue? Although we know, legally, it’s not an issue.” Noble reiterated that it’s up to the three parties to work it out. “This is not a municipal issue,” he said. “If he did something wrong — which he didn’t — but if he did, don’t come crying to us, go after him. Sue him in a court of law. Don’t slander and defame him. Without any knowledge, there were some very negative words used against an individual. There’s no place for that in a council chamber.” Coun. Murdoch had no comment when reached by the Herald on Monday.
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way out of proportion.” Noble said city employees are no different than anyone else in that they should be able to voice complaints against businesses in which they’ve had an unsatisfactory experience. “I’ve had bad experiences and I’ve complained about it and I would have a right to complain about it,” he said. “He didn’t complain about it saying, ‘I work for the City of Merritt.’ He said, ‘I’m a guest and I have a problem.’ When I went on the site, there were good comments and bad comments. That’s what those sites are for. It’s a check for people like Ramada. When they’re good, I (as a business owner) would want to know the good things, but I also want to know the bad things so I
Umpherson’s boss Matt Noble, city administrative officer, said there would be no action against him by the city in regards to posting on the site. “The way this unfolded wasn’t correct,” said Noble. “You do not bring up employee issues. No community does that to their employees. Council members are not supposed to do that. The fact is, council have one employee only and that’s me. It’s written in the charter. This is not a city issue. Whatever is occurring there is between Ramada, the travel site and the person who has every right to make whatever comments they want. It wasn’t done on city equipment, it wasn’t something done on city time. It’s something that was blown
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