`Zero possibility' Kenney is unaware of jet-setting colleagues, EX-MLA says
Politicians past and present are casting doubt on Premier Jason Kenney's claim that he didn't know senior government officials were travelling outside of the country over the holidays.
“When you're sitting in Parliament, you can never call another person a liar because that's unparliamentary. You always like to give the person at least a shred of the benefit of the doubt,” former Alberta Progressive Conservative politician Thomas Lukaszuk said.
“I have to tell you, as an MLA for nearly 15 years, a cabinet minister for half of that and deputy premier — and (after) talking to ministers from other governments — there is literally zero possibility that the premier did not know.”
At least eight senior members of the UCP government, including Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard, Kenney's chief of staff Jamie Huckabay and several MLAS, left Alberta to travel to places such as the United Kingdom, Hawaii and Las Vegas.
Kenney said Friday that he learned of Allard's vacation to the Aloha State 11 days after she departed on Dec. 19 and immediately asked her to return home. He also confirmed Huckabay had travelled to Britain and returned to Canada via the United States with his family.
“I think it was a significant error in judgment,” Kenney said Friday. “There's a reasonable public expectation that we will be held to a higher standard than simply complying with the rules. People are right to be frustrated by that.”
Lukaszuk said there is a form-submission process when ministers plan to be away from the office, which Allard referenced during a separate news conference on Friday.
Lukaszuk said these memorandums, which include contact information, a substitute representative and dates of travel, were sent directly to the premier, chief of staff and party whip during his time in office.
Harrison Fleming, deputy press secretary to the officer of the premier, said the letter does not indicate specific holiday plans or locations.
“This is a routine notification form and not a request for approval,” Fleming said in a statement. “(It) is a letter that designates an alternate minister who can have statutory signing authority.”
The province declined to provide Postmedia with a blank copy of the letter.
“If Kenney tells you he didn't know, there are really three options. Either he is lying, he is incompetent and doesn't read those important memos, or he's negligent,” Lukaszuk said.
“The chief of staff lives the premier's life. He is a shadow. He is in charge of the entire bureaucracy. The premier knows far in advance if the chief of staff goes anywhere.”
Fleming declined to give specifics on how Kenney became aware of Allard and Huckabay's out-ofprovince trips.
In Ontario, finance minister Rod Phillips resigned his cabinet post after news broke that he took a personal trip to the Caribbean over Christmas. Ontario Premier Doug Ford admitted to knowing about his trip.
Lukaszuk said Ford did the “right thing” and Kenney should follow suit.
“It's never too late to do the right thing,” he said. “Reveal the list of all your senior staff, MLAS and ministers that travelled outside of Alberta, never mind Canada, and take appropriate steps. Show that you actually mean what you say.”
Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said Kenney and his cabinet are making a bad situation worse. He said the situation reminds him of when Alison Redford was premier.
“There were just these spiralling scandals that hit — bang, bang, bang,” Bratt said. “But that was all about her. This is about Kenney apparently protecting everybody else,” he said.
Kenney's response to holiday jet-setters could have lasting consequences during his time as premier and in the next provincial election, he said.
Bratt said the circumstances call into question the priorities of the United Conservative government, such as the lagging vaccination effort in December when Allard, who serves as vice-chair of the emergency management cabinet committee, was abroad.
“Maybe it was put on pause because no one's around,” Bratt said. “How do you go back to the idea of personal responsibility anymore? Or `we're all in this together?'”
He said while the travelling officials and staffers didn't break any laws, they call into question moral and ethical values.
Sarah Hoffman, NDP Opposition deputy leader and also a former deputy premier, said the decisions of Kenney's high-ranking colleagues to travel out of the country demonstrate arrogance and feelings of entitlement.
“Most Albertans have sacrificed far more than a holiday this year,” Hoffman said.
“I have family members and many constituents, and so do they, that are grieving the loss of loved ones and can't have funerals, yet they deemed it essential to work on their tans.”
She also said it is “implausible” that the premier would be unaware his senior colleagues were outside of Alberta.