COCHRANE— The United Conservative Party started the year off with the demotion of multiple MLAs who travelled outside the province over the holidays.
Tracy Allard resigned from the role of Minister of Municipal Affairs and five other MLAs lost roles within the provincial government. The MLAs remain members of the United Conservative Party and continue to hold office.
Allard, the MLA for Grande Prairie, apologized last week for travelling to Hawaii. The former minister left on Dec. 19 for the trip, which she called a long-standing family tradition.
In a Facebook post, Premier Jason Kenney addressed the controversy stating that Albertans have the right to expect those in positions of public trust need to be held to a higher standard of conduct during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Millions of Albertans have made real sacrifices over the past 10 months to help keep each other safe. They are right to be angry about people in positions of leadership vacationing outside of the country," says the Facebook post.
Kenney's accepted resignations from his chief of staff Jamie Huckabay who travelled to the U.K, MLA Jeremy Nixon as Parliamentary Secretary for Civil Society and MLA Jason Stephan from Treasury Board.
Kenney took responsibility for the incident citing not being clear enough on expectations.
"By travelling abroad over the holidays, these individuals demonstrated extremely poor judgment," reads Kenney's Facebook post. "Last Friday, I took responsibility for not having been clear enough with members of the government caucus and others in positions of leadership that they should not travel abroad. Over the weekend, I have listened to Albertans who are sending a clear message that they want real consequences for these actions."
Minister of Energy Sonya Savage also travelled to a property she owns in British Columbia over the holidays for what her staff called "essential maintenance." Savage was not included in the list of MLAs facing repercussions for their actions.
Cochrane-Airdrie MLA Peter Guthrie provided a statement to The Cochrane Eagle regarding the controversy.
Guthrie said he did not leave the country or province over the holidays and adhered to the rules outlined by public health officials. He added his Christmas was spent at home in Cochrane with his wife and children.
"I do understand the very real sacrifices many have had to endure due to this pandemic and I fully appreciate the frustration constituents have expressed," Guthrie said.
Banff-Kananaskis MLA Miranda Rosin provided a statement to The Cochrane Eagle regarding the controversy.
"I know the decision by some of my colleagues to travel internationally has angered many in our province," reads Rosin's statement. "Throughout 2020 governments everywhere have made decisions that profoundly affected Albertan families and businesses. The least us elected officials could do is to personally sacrifice some, ourselves."
Rosin said she has not left the country this year, including over the Christmas holidays.
She noted the United Conservative Party was founded on the mantra of "work hard, stay humble" and the recent revelations on travel are an affront to that philosophy.
While international travel is not technically illegal under the current health measures, Rosin said, the choice to do so during a global health crisis illustrated poor judgment.
She added the choice was especially poor given the economic struggles many Albertans are facing under the current health measures.
"Albertans have been abundantly clear to us that they wanted real and hard consequences imposed on these individuals for their actions, and we have done so," says the statement. "Unfortunately, poor judgment cannot be tolerated for those whom we entrust to govern our societies, and consequences must be faced for poor decision making."
Cochrane mayor Jeff Genung said it was disappointing to see multiple MLAs make the decision to travel over the holidays.
“I stuck around home,” Genung said. “I did exactly what they had asked us to do. I have nothing to hide.”
Genung said he is not worried the example set by provincial leadership will result in people beginning to resist public health measures. He is hopeful for the most part people are following health measures and understand the need to actively work to bend the curve of COVID-19 spread.
“I think people know that this is some isolated cases and not the provincial government as a whole,” Genung said. “Overall, I’m just disappointed. As an elected official I believe our first job is to practice what we preach and lead by example— These are some blatant examples of some disregard for that notion.”
He added support of local businesses across the province is especially important given the economic fallout of the pandemic— The decision of MLAs made to take their dollars out of their communities, the province and country is also concerning.
“That’s a hard pill to swallow I’m disappointed,” Genung said. “This just does not leave a good feeling.”
He added the implications from members stepping down from roles within the provincial government will ripple down to municipalities.
Minister Allard resigning from the role of Minister of Municipal Affairs will have especially meaningful impacts— Particularly in regards to the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board and over all on the Town’s interactions with the provincial government.
“Our relationship with the minister is important and we had just gone through a shift with that cabinet from Minister [Kaycee] Madu to Minister Allard,” Genung said. “The constant in COVID has been change and here we go again and, this was something that was self-inflicted and it was unnecessary.”
The Cochrane Eagle conducted an informal poll at Mitford Park on Monday (Jan. 5) to ask locals, "How do you feel about politicians who travelled over the holidays?"
Cochranite Dave Karpiak said it was disappointing to see politicians disregard public health recommendations.
“It makes me angry. Because every day we watch the news and you hear them tell about what we have to do to bend the curve and we had to sacrifice a lot over Christmas," Karpiak said. "To see the hypocrisy of what they did, it’s almost like the rules apply to us but not to them.”
Debbie Wilson said it was annoying to see politicians travel over the holidays.
"I see these guys that are supposed to be leading us gone away and doing stuff that we’re not allowed to do," she said.
Barb Caine echoed Wilson's sentiments stating that it was upsetting to see the sacrifices of countless Albertans disregarded by politicians.
"Stepping down was the least they could do. In their position in the government, they need to set an example for people, especially for things that the government has asked of the citizens," Caine said. "The least they could do is follow their own recommendations. They betrayed the public's trust.”
The current Alberta public health restrictions are expected be in place until at least Tuesday (Jan. 12).
-With files from The Canadian Press
