Kenney expels MLA after towns complain
EDMONTON • An Alberta MLA who was caught travelling out of the country over Christmas, and who faced demands from municipal politicians in his riding to resign over absenteeism, has been ousted from the united Conservative caucus.
“The most important job of a member of the Legislative Assembly is to represent his or her constituents,” said Premier Jason 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.”
rehn, who will now sit as an independent member of the Legislative Assembly for Lesser Slave Lake, will not be allowed to run for the party again, Kenney said.
First elected in 2019, rehn just one of several UCP MLAS who travelled outside of Alberta over the Christmas break despite public health advice to stay home. 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 during of the pandemic, where he has business interests.
Shortly after rehn returned to Canada from his Mexican vacation in december, 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 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. (MLAS are allowed to expense meals when they’re out of their riding.)
rehn stood his ground in response to Slave Lake’s demands. In a statement posted to Facebook, he said municipal politicians were seizing upon his “poor choices around travel” to “sow political division at this difficult time” and that representing the region was the “honour of a lifetime.”
In addition to Slave Lake, the town council in High Prairie also voted to speak to rehn regarding his visibility in the riding.
In the Twitter post announcing rehn’s defenestration, Kenney said he “repeatedly asked rehn to be more present in his constituency. He has ignored calls from me, UCP caucus leadership, and his constituents to do so.”
National Post attempted to phone rehn at his business on Thursday morning. The person who answered said he wasn’t in and wouldn’t be taking any calls, and then hung up.