Slave Lake calls for its MLA to resign
EDMONTON — In a scathing letter, town councillors in Slave Lake, Alta. have called for Pat Rehn, the region's United Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly, to resign from his position in the provincial government, saying, “we have an MLA that does not represent the people of this region.”
The call comes in the midst of an escalating “snowbird” scandal in Alberta involving several United Conservative Party MLAs and political staff having left the country or province over the holidays, which has led to deep unrest among the conservatives' base — and political opponents in the province.
While the letter doesn't mention it specifically, Rehn was one of several government MLAs caught travelling abroad over the Christmas holidays. Rehn had posted a photo on Facebook on Christmas Eve that appeared to show he was in Mexico. In a Facebook post, Rehn said he was returning home, after an explicit demand from Premier Jason Kenney that politicians out of the country get back home.
“When COVID-19 began and the Canadian government said Canadians need to get home, you were in the United States. Since that time, you have made multiple trips abroad. In fact, right now, as our businesses suffer and many of our people aren't working, you still aren't here,” the letter says.
In a Facebook post Tuesday evening, Rehn said it was “disappointing” to see municipal politicians using his “poor choices around travel” to “try and sow political division at this time.”
Rehn said he has travelled to Texas within the past year “to address essential business matters.”
“I, of course, complied with all health requirements when doing so,” he wrote.
Slave Lake is located about 250 kilometres north of Edmonton, and has a population of around 6,600 people.
In an interview, Slave Lake Mayor Tyler Warman called Rehn's absences a “slap in the face to our residents,” adding that Rehn had been back and forth between Alberta and Texas frequently over the course of his time in office, including over the last year, to manage his business renting out construction cranes.
“He told everyone that his son was going to run the company,” Warman said of Rehn's business, but added that Rehn has seemingly ignored his duty to represent the region and focused on the business, AAA Precision Industries.
Warman said Rehn moved to Slave Lake shortly before the last provincial election and subsequently left the region. The mayor believes the town has missed out on various projects, including a $4-million affordable housing project consisting of 20 to 40 units.
Rehn said in his Facebook post that he has homes in both Edmonton and Slave Lake.
“It is the honour of a lifetime to represent a region I have lived and worked in since I bought my first quarter-section of trees and also my first sawmill in Wabasca using every penny I had in the bank,” he wrote.
Another northern Alberta MLA, Tany Yao, was also in Mexico, but apparently had his phone turned off, sparking a several-day drama where neither the government nor his constituents had any idea where he was. Yao surfaced on Tuesday, telling a reporter for the Fort McMurray Today newspaper that, “I just wanted to disconnect and clear my head after this last year.”
Others who left the country include Jason Stephan, a Red Deer MLA who went to Phoenix, Tanya Fir, a Calgary MLA, went to Las Vegas. Two other United Conservative members of the legislature, Jeremy Nixon and Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard, went to in Hawaii. Several UCP staff also travelled over the holidays.
All have, in recent days, lost their positions on committees and Allard was stripped of her ministerial role, which was given to longtime Alberta conservative stalwart Ric McIver, who, at the daily COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, apologized for the scandal.
“If you're yelling at us, interestingly enough, my message is ‘thank you.' There is no doubt in our mind we didn't get it right,” McIver said. “I'm not asking anybody to stop yelling, I'm just saying we're getting the message … we're not going to make excuses.”
The letter from Slave Lake council details a litany of complaints against Rehn. The councillors say he decided not to live in the constituency, and has failed to meet with elected leaders and residents, has missed multiple meetings or arrives unprepared and “you have spent more physical time managing your business in Texas than being physically present in our Region.”