EDMONTON Alberta’s Speaker of the legislature has criticized fellow UCP MLAs and Premier Jason Kenney for their decision making in the wake of a travel scandal that led to the demotions of six provincially elected officials. A photo of a recent email obtained by Postmedia and shared with CTV News Edmonton appears to show Nathan Cooper replying to a constituent. In the email, the MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills said he did not approve of the travel, nor the handling of the scandal by Premier Jason Kenney. The photo and email within have not been independently verified by CTV News Edmonton. Attempts to contact Cooper were unsuccessful and his constituency office did not respond to a request for comment.
Councillors ask for MLA Pat Rehn to resign
Last Updated Jan 6, 2021 at 12:56 pm MDT
SLAVE LAKE (660 NEWS) – In the wake of the controversy surrounding Alberta MLAs who travelled outside of the country, councillors in the town of Slave Lake are asking for MLA Pat Rehn to resign.
Rehn took a trip to Mexico over the holidays despite the recommendation of non-essential travel during the pandemic.
A letter written to the lesser Slave Lake representative expresses council’s disappointment with his performance at the job.
Slave Lake Town Council wrote an open letter to MLA @PatRehnUCP expressing their displeasure with his performance as MLA for Lesser Slave Lake and the lack of proper representation for our Region. #abpoli@Alberta UCP@jkenney#LesserSlaveLakehttps://t.co/xnZ6EBZ6XEpic.twitter.com/tASiSVo1JK
SHARE ON: A sign posted outside of Municipal Affairs Minister and Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard s constituency office (Erica Fisher, MyGrandePrairieNow.com staff)
UPDATE: The organizers of the display in front of Allard’s office say they are furious by the actions of Canadian politicians who took personal trips outside of the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aaron Penson says he’s been disappointed with the United Conservative Party since it formed government – five UCP MLAs are reported to have left Canada for holiday vacations – but this seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“This one just really crossed the line with me. How many of us haven’t travelled to see our families?”
Dr. Allan Tupper, a political science professor at UBC, says leaving town at a time like this is the kind of thing voters won’t forget.
“The public backlash in these things, it’s very difficult to come back from that,” he tells NEWS 1130.
Tupper adds when it comes to Ontario’s Finance Minister, he’s surprised the Premier didn’t fire him.
“It was unwise to leave at all as Minister of Finance. We’ve seen controversies in different countries already, deep controversies about people believing that actions of politicians and other leaders who go away on vacations and clearly violate the lockdown rules and so on to be very, very unpopular by people for good reason,” Tupper says.