[Professional Blog] Offer Declined

We all know that Beth Marshall was appointed recently to the Senate of Canada.

But the outcome might have been different, if Lynn Burry had accepted an invitation to appear on a short-list of potential appointees.

Last year, Burry was approached by a high ranking and influential member of the Conservative Party of Canada. That person was preparing a short list of possible appointees to the Senate from Newfoundland and Labrador. The criteria were that the person had to be female, with some public profile, and within a certain, though unspecified, age range.

And they wanted to add Lynn Burry to that list. If she agreed, her name would be forwarded to the Prime Minister for consideration in the upcoming round of Senate appointments.

But Burry said no, thank you.

Apparently, Burry is quite happy in her present position, as co-anchor of the NTV Evening Newshour, and is not interested in spending several months a year in Ottawa.

I contacted Burry to chat about this story. Her response was, I have no comment on that, which I suppose is understandable. You will note that she didnt deny the information. Either way, my sources are very good, so I have no hesitation in posting this.

Of course, there is no way of knowing what the outcome would have been, had Burry agreed to put her name forward. On the one hand, Beth Marshall seems like an ideal choice and might have won anyway. On the other, the Prime Minister has not been shy in the past about appointing media people to the Senate and Burry would have been an interesting choice.

Nonetheless, I respect Burry for turning it down.