MLA travel scandal snowballing
Yao latest of nine UCP politicians, staff to break directives over leaving country
Holiday getaways taken by a growing list of UCP MLAS go beyond the average political scandal in Alberta, political commentators say.
Late Sunday, Fort Mcmurray-wood Buffalo MLA Tany Yao became the latest of nine UCP politicians and senior government officials confirmed to have travelled abroad over the holidays, including Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard, who held a news conference on New Year's Day to apologize.
As of press time, Yao was still in Mexico and the UCP caucus was attempting to contact him to advise him to return after Premier Jason Kenney's explicit directive forbidding non-essential travel announced Friday.
Other MLAS who took December sojourns to warmer American climates include Red Deer- South MLA Jason Stephan, Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pat Rehn, Calgary-klein MLA Jeremy Nixon and Calgary-peigan MLA Tanya Fir, despite provincial and federal advice to avoid non-essential international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pollster and political commentator Janet Brown said Sunday that many people are drawing parallels to when former Progressive Conservative premier Jim Prentice told Albertans to “look in the mirror” to address the provincial deficit, or when former Progressive Conservative premier Alison Redford planned to build her infamous sky palace, or even when Ralph Klein disparaged a man at a homeless shelter.
“Those kind of pale in comparison to this. There were no public health emergencies going on. Nobody's health and welfare was threatened,” said Brown.
Unlike other political improprieties, this is easy to understand because the public health guidelines were clear, she said.
That means the news is hitting people in an “emotional, very visceral” way, and it's also happening during a public health crisis many consider being mishandled by the government, said Brown.
“It's different from your average
run-of-the-mill polling scandal. And the funny thing is, politicians can be involved in scandals that involve billions of dollars and emerge unscathed.”
Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams also likened
the affair to previous Progressive Conservative scandals but said the difference is that Albertans have become even more sensitive to any perceived hypocrisy, entitlement or elitism among elected officials.
“It's like a wound or a bruise that hasn't completely healed,” she said Sunday.
Whether they are feeling anger, pain, fear, grief or economic hardship, the issue is touching all kinds of “very sensitive nerves” among Albertans, Williams said.
Government news conferences, called on New Year's Day, saw Kenney and Allard apologize for the lapse in judgment, but Allard did not resign or face sanctions.
Williams said that effort was ineffective, and since then, questions about Kenney's leadership and ethical authority only began to amplify.
“It's snowballing ... I don't now how you reverse this,” said Williams.
Brown was equally critical of the announcement, saying the lack of immediate transparency about who travelled where and when extended the controversy when the government could have taken all the flack at once.
“It's not the billion-dollar scandals that bring people down — it's the little things. And the other truism in politics is that the coverup is worse than the crime,” she said.
But the UCP is especially vulnerable on the right flank, where supporters are among the most furious.
Cory Morgan, a founding member of the Wildrose Party and conservative columnist for the Western Standard, said Sunday Kenney is draining support from his political base and creating frustration.
“There's nothing worse than when your own team is blowing it,” he said, adding the UCP wasn't living up to its populist promise.
“You're supposed to be reflecting the view from the ground, not dictating it from above,” he said.
Although it might be too late to fix the political damage, Morgan said Allard has to leave cabinet.
“(Kenney's) got to crack down on somebody. People want blood.”
Along with Allard, other Canadian politicians, including Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips, who was forced to resign from cabinet, have made international news for their ill-timed escapades.