And while the Leader of the Opposition was out with his supporters, it should be noted that none of the other four UDP elected representatives showed up.
It's not a good look for the opposition - especially since only two members attended the House Meeting today.
While we can't say why the DPM, Hugo Patt, or the most senior member, Patrick Faber, were no-shows, we asked the Albert area rep her reasons for not showing up.
Hon. Tracy Taegar-Panton, UDP Albert Rep.
"I did not as you know participate in the demonstration. We had received a invitation from the party leader to the Albert constituency, particular the executive committee to support the demonstration and I shared that invitation with the executive committee members so that they can utilize as they seem fit. I try to have a tremendous amount of respect for the people who are responsible for me being in office. Quite frankly they are the movers and shakers for me in Albert, so I did not suggest to them that they do not attend. I sent the invitation and those who wanted to accept the invitation was free to do so."
Reporter
"But why didn't you attend?"
Hon. Tracy Taegar-Panton, UDP Albert Rep.
"I have my personal reasons for not attending the demonstration."
Reporter
"Don't you think it gives off a bad appearance, because the UDP already appears disjointed especially today with only 2 members in the house. Doesn't it make it seem like its not united?"
Hon. Tracy Taegar-Panton, UDP Albert Rep.
"I can only give account for myself, you know. I am here. In fact, I have been here for every house meeting since this parliamentary term. I have not miss a house meeting. You would have to speak to my colleagues to find out why they are not here. I was not prepared to attend that demonstration yesterday. I support the issues, there are personal over my social media page that I know so many people monitor, but I was not prepared to be in the demonstration for lots of reasons."
Reporter
"But did you agree that it should have happen even though technically it was an illegal protest?"
Hon. Tracy Taegar-Panton, UDP Albert Rep.
"That was one of the issues I had personally that while there is a place for civil unrest, civil disobedience I think that we were not granted a permit to demonstrate and I think that we are a law-abiding institution and we should respect the law. We could raise ruckus about why we were not given a permit using all sorts of other forums, but I certainly was not personally comfortable in not respecting the decision of the authorities."
