The Tyee reported yesterday that when New Democratic party leader Carole James gave a press conference to announce an emergency caucus meeting it was with 13 of 34 NDP MLAs on stage with her.

We noted that seven MLAs thought to support James were absent. A party official has since offered an explanation of where they were.

Scott Fraser from Alberni-Pacific Rim, Shane Simpson from Vancouver-Hastings and Jagrup Brar from Surrey-Fleetwood were traveling outside the country, the official said.

Michelle Mungall from Nelson-Creston, Doug Donaldson from Stikine and Bill Routley from Cowichan Valley were listening in on the conference call.

And John Horgan from Juan de Fuca “had a valid reason for not being able to travel to Vancouver that morning and had been in touch about it prior to the event.”

As noted in the original story, most of those who were absent are on record supporting James' leadership.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.