UCP TRAVEL SCANDAL `SHAMEFUL'
International trips amid COVID shutdown draw scorn from across political spectrum
A hurricane of rage is hammering the UCP government and Premier Jason Kenney for the thoughtless, careless, arrogant travel to holiday places by his minions, and the refusal to fire or discipline any one of them.
Never did a government more richly deserve every gust of fury.
A former Progressive Conservative minister, Greg Stevens, says in an email: “I cannot believe how stupid and unbelievably ignorant he (Kenney) has shown himself to truly be, when the issues demand strong and principled decisions.”
Conservative icon Dave Rutherford, who helped unite conservatives and bring Kenney to power, erupted on Facebook.
“It's arrogant, demeaning and immoral for elected representatives to thumb their lofty noses at the rabble, preaching to us, from f-ing Hawaii no less, to stay home and hunker down.
“It's shameful but the premier has found a lame excuse to gloss it over.”
The criticism explodes from every nook of Alberta politics — left, centre, and, most dangerously, Kenney's own right side of the spectrum.
There have always been scandals. Premier Alison Redford's Sky Palace, and her plane trips with non-existent ghost riders, was an indelible classic.
Premier Ralph Klein got caught up in a stock scandal. Don Getty was accused of raising the water level of a lake to suit his love of fishing. On and on it goes.
Those controversies upset people but the emotion was always more political than personal.
This crisis is profoundly different. It focuses all the pain, fear, grief and economic hardship of COVID-19 squarely on the premier and the government.
This is an astounding failure of confidence, like holding a magnifying glass up to the blazing sun and aiming it at yourself.
Before our eyes, we have the image of a minister, MLAS and even the premier's chief of staff jetting off for holidays at a crucial moment in the ramp-up of vaccine delivery, and the imposition of tougher measures.
Some shot pre-recorded videos in Alberta, which were posted while they were away, making it look like they were still here.
But there was no intent to deceive, they insist. Of course not. Meanwhile, surf's up!
How curious that the places they went to, with the sole exception of the U.K., generally have
There's Allard, enjoying a personal tradition that many Albertans could never afford for one year, let alone 17 years straight.
more lax measures than Alberta.
When Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard was in Hawaii, you could party on with up to 10 people. Here at home, we were restricted to our own households.
The locals of Hawaii, in fact, are often furious at crowds of tourists who don't even follow the relatively soft state rules.
Now, the Pope has called out people who travel to avoid restrictions. He's “saddened” by insensitivity to those suffering at home.
When Allard was apologizing, she actually talked about the wonderful “tradition” her family had shared in Hawaii for 17 years.
She couldn't resist it this year. She went as usual.
Rarely has a more insensitive, hurtful comment come from a government minister.
Nearly everyone has set aside a family tradition this year. We didn't make our any-weather drive to Edmonton despite a serious health crisis in the family.
Good little Albertans; that's us and nearly everybody else. We dutifully comply because it's both the rule and the government's advice.
But there's Allard, enjoying a personal tradition that many Albertans could never afford for even one year, let alone 17 straight.
She has to resign.
On Sunday there was talk that she will, soon.
Kenney's chief of staff, Jamie Huckabay, went to the U.K.
One key part of that job is to detect any looming political crisis and head it off. Instead, he literally headed off and helped create the crisis.
Only two months ago, Think HQ pollster Marc Henry did a survey that showed 55 per cent of Albertans don't trust the Kenney government, while only 38 per cent do.
This will probably get a lot worse. Suspicion of every move is now rampant — and justified, given the sneakiness and disorder on display.
Were the travellers quietly vaccinated before they left? Did they isolate when they came back?
Did Kenney know the trips were happening, even though he says he didn't?
“Trust issues are so overarching, so debilitating for a government,” Henry says. “When people lose trust it's hard for a government to handle even minor negative problems. Their reservoir of goodwill is empty.”
On Monday, as new COVID-19 figures are announced, we'll probably be told again that
“we're all in this together.”
Is that so?