One set of rules for UCP, another for the rest of us
Allowing spirit of travel advisory to be broken reflects badly on the premier's leadership
The first day of the year might have been the worst day of Jason Kenney's career.
The premier severely damaged trust in COVID-19 restrictions after some of his key government people showed they don't have a scrap of common sense or respect for what Albertans are going through.
Kenney squirmed as he tried to explain why he won't discipline any of the Ucpers who left the country in December.
While most of us were painfully isolating ourselves from family and friends, trying to decide if we should even risk the grocery store, these people were heading to Hawaii, Mexico and the U.K.
The premier says they should not have done that, but they didn't break any rules since the Alberta government encourages safe international travel, you see.
But on its COVID-19 website, the Alberta government also encourages the following:
“An official travel advisory remains in effect. Avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice.
“The Canada U.S. border remains closed to non-essential travel.”
That's the word for us. Not for them, apparently.
Kenney's chief of staff, Jamie Huckabay, travelled non-essentially to the U.K., then came back on command, entering non-essentially via the U.S.
Huckabay is one of the most important players in government, as close to the premier as anyone gets.
He surveys all doings of staff, manages the connection between the premier's office and government, keeps a finger to the political wind, and much more.
So close is the link that Huckabay is officially under contract to the premier for about $220,000 a year (a lot less, mind you, than some Cocs of the past.)
But Huckabay went to the U.K. of all places — the country where a variant strain of COVID-19 apparently originated.
Could any person central to government appear more clueless about how this violates the spirit of COVID-19 mandates?
Actually, one could. That's Tracy Allard, the municipal affairs minister, who went to Hawaii on Dec. 19 and returned Dec. 28 after Kenney reeled her in.
She went after today's tough measures took effect Dec. 13, even though she has a key role in the fight against the pandemic.
Kenney downplayed this Friday when I asked about her part in the vaccination program. She has none, he said, which is technically correct for that specific area.
But she is a major pandemic player as head of the ministry that runs provincial emergency management. Her job is more central than any minister's, except for Tyler Shandro in health.
Allard is also the vice-chair of cabinet's Emergency Management Committee, second only to Kenney, the chair.
So it's kind of hard to argue that Allard didn't have to stick around because she isn't that important.
She said her Hawaii trip is a family tradition that she “naively” decided to honour while the rest of us were deferring ours.
“She absolutely has to resign,” said NDP Leader Rachel Notley.
“This is happening while people in rural Alberta are told they can't take the kids across the street to visit their parents.
“It's a profound betrayal of the trust of people in this province.”
Allard's apology Friday was as abject as anything I've ever heard from a politician. Terrible error of judgment, all that. She sounded close to tears.
But the profound question remains: How could any minister, or senior public servant, or education aide also on the beach in Hawaii, or MLA in the Caribbean, fail to grasp the chasm they excavated between the powerful and Albertans subject to unprecedented government orders?
It's only explicable through stupidity, arrogance or epic disconnect with the feelings of regular people.
Take your pick. I have no clue, except to suggest that a major ethical part is missing here.
Kenney took all the blame on himself for failing to make it clear he didn't want anybody engaging in foreign travel.
It's obvious that with or without an order, his people should have known better.
But he lets them off the hook with the bloodless technicality that they weren't violating any rules, or a specific order from him. Thus, he sidesteps the political and moral violation.
This is a failure of leadership. Kenney's own people have diminished him. It's a rare premier who allows that to happen without political bloodletting.