We like politicians who stand up for their constituents. But they should do it on their own time — not on the clock of bleary-eyed commuters trying to get to work.

There is little to commend about Monday morning’s city-led rush hour demonstration in support of the Murray-Clarke connector.

For one thing, it probably won’t have the desired effect of getting the moneybags at TransLink to pony up the cash for the $50-million project. The current board of TransLink meets for the last time today and so its directors are pretty much lame ducks (and their replacements haven’t been appointed yet).

If it’s commuters PoMo Mayor Joe Trasolini and his colleagues are hoping to get riled up, well, mission accomplished. But Tri-City residents don’t need to be convinced this region needs better transit and better road infrastructure, and when they find out who was behind Monday’s stunt, they are more likely to fire eggs their way rather than write a letter to the editor or an email to the new South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority.

There’s no question the Murray-Clarke connector is necessary for the free flow of traffic in this region. Indeed, it could be argued that PoMo council has been misled for years about TransLink’s willingness to fund this project and has permitted thousands of homes to be built in the area without proper road infrastructure.

But, come on, a protest at the side of the road during rush hour?

If anyone deserves to be irate, it’s the drivers who were inconvenienced and the taxpayers whose hard-earned dollars paid for staff who were there to record the event.

Mayor Trasolini has been congratulated by this paper in the past for trying to put the needs of his constituents in front of the powers that be. But this poorly planned stunt was not the best tactic for obtaining the much-needed Murray-Clarke connector.