Rehn kicked out of Alberta UCP caucus

EDMONTON — An Alberta MLA who was caught travelling out of the country over Christmas, and who faced demands from municipal councils in his riding to resign over absenteeism, has been ousted from the United Conservative caucus by Premier Jason Kenney.

“The most important job of a Member of the Legislative Assembly is to represent his or her constituents,” said Kenney in a statement Thursday morning. “It has become clear that Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pat Rehn has failed to do so. He has made no meaningful effort to work in his constituency, or properly to represent his hard-working constituents.”

Pat Rehn, who will now sit as an independent member of the legislative assembly for Lesser Slave Lake, was just one of several UCP MLAs who journeyed outside of Alberta over the Christmas break. While a few went to other provinces, six of them went outside the country to the United States or Mexico.

Rehn had also travelled to Texas multiple times over the course of the pandemic, where he has business interests.

Shortly after Rehn returned to Canada from his Mexican vacation, the municipal council of Slave Lake published an open letter, asking for him to resign because “we have an MLA that does not represent the people of this region.” In particular, they said Rehn had failed to show up or arrived unprepared for multiple meetings, and didn’t appear to live in the region.

Rehn’s expense records, which are publicly posted in Alberta, suggest that he’s spent a majority of his time in Edmonton and not his riding, which is located about 250 kilometres north of Edmonton. Expense reports for April, May, June and July 2020 show he expensed three meals per day in Edmonton almost every single day.