Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has accepted the resignations of Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard as minister of municipal affairs and of Jamie Huckabay, his chief of staff.
They join a growing number of politicians across Canada who have admitted to travelling outside the country despite pandemic restrictions, leading to resignations in some cases. They include former Ontario finance minister Rod Phillips, a Progressive Conservative; Liberal MP Kamal Khera; and New Democrat MP Niki Ashton.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Kenney said he has also demoted five other United Conservative Party MLAs who travelled internationally over the holidays.
Calgary-Klein MLA Jeremy Nixon has been stripped from his position as parliamentary secretary for civil society, while Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan has been removed from Treasury Board.
Three MLAs Calgary-Peigan’s Tanya Fir, Tany Yao of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo and Lesser Slave Lake’s Pat Rehn have been removed from the legislature committees they sat on.
Transportation Minister Ric McIver will take over municipal affairs until a new minister is appointed, Kenney said. Larry Kaumeyer, the current principal secretary, will serve as interim chief of staff.
“Millions of Albertans have made real sacrifices over the past 10 months to help keep each other safe. They are right to be angry about people in positions of leadership vacationing outside of the country,” Kenney wrote.
“By travelling abroad over the holidays, these individuals demonstrated extremely poor judgment.”
Kenney’s announcement comes after days of intense criticism by Albertans over the holiday trips.
Social media has been dominated by calls for Kenney and Allard to resign, while MLAs have been bombarded with emails and phone calls from angry constituents.
CBC News first confirmed on Dec. 31 that Allard had been in Hawaii over the holidays. The next day, Kenney held a news conference, during which he told Albertans he was at fault for not telling MLAs they shouldn’t travel even though public health officials have advised against non-essential international trips for months.
A few hours later, Allard held a news conference and apologized for taking the trip. But in a statement that likely sealed her fate, she explained that the Christmas trip to Hawaii was an annual tradition for her family.
That prompted more outrage from Albertans, who began listing the traditions, travel and gatherings they eschewed this year due to COVID-19.
Huckabay, who visited the U.K. over the holidays, was asked to resign, according to the statement released by the premier.
Through the weekend, the travel of more MLAs was revealed: Fir was in Las Vegas; Nixon had been in Hawaii; Rehn and Yao visited Mexico. Stephan left for Arizona on Dec. 31, the day news of Allard’s trip became public.