[Newsbot]

Title: Former deputy premier says Kenney had to know about travelling MLAs | Calgary Herald
Category: Provincial Politics
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2021-01-04 05:58:21
Canadian

[DrCaleb]

Pope 'saddened' that people are vacationing to flee COVID-19 lockdowns

The UCP have made the Pope sad.

[bootlegga]

Minister Allard has resigned, and every other MLA has been removed from committee or otehr special duties they had.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7554153/albe ... nney-covid

[DrCaleb]

Aww, poor babies. But they still have jobs and pensions, right?

People can't hug or bury their dying family. Losing your committee pay is small potatoes for doing such a major fuck up.

[Unsound]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Losing your committee pay is small potatoes for doing such a major fuck up.

Tend to agree, but it's something at least. And, now that the damage is done I'm not sure, from a political point of view, what else he could've done...

He could kick them out of caucus, but there's too many of them for that to be a real viable option...

He could've asked them to resign as MLAs, but he couldn't force them to and I suspect he'd get just as much heat if he was seen as the reason for a half dozen or more by-elections in the midst of a pandemic.

He took too long to do something that he shouldn't have had to do in the first place if his party members had an ounce of common sense, but I think this might be about the best option available.

[DrCaleb]

Unsound Unsound:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Losing your committee pay is small potatoes for doing such a major fuck up.

Tend to agree, but it's something at least. And, now that the damage is done I'm not sure, from a political point of view, what else he could've done...

He could kick them out of caucus, but there's too many of them for that to be a real viable option...

He could've asked them to resign as MLAs, but he couldn't force them to and I suspect he'd get just as much heat if he was seen as the reason for a half dozen or more by-elections in the midst of a pandemic.

He took too long to do something that he shouldn't have had to do in the first place if his party members had an ounce of common sense, but I think this might be about the best option available.

He started by ignoring the advice to institute a lock down, because 'freedom'. So his words ring hollow to me that his MLAs 'did nothing illegal', because Kenney refused to make it illegal.

What Kenney ignores are the many people who have no choice but to go to work in the midst of the pandemic, who get infected and spread it to their loved ones - who had no choice in the matter. What about their freedom?

The MLAs ignoring health 'advice' are just the symptom of the bigger problem, of not doing what needs to be done. There are many precedents, like Australia, New Zealand and now the UK. Lockdowns suck - but they work in reducing transmission of the virus. And they wind up getting the economy rolling faster than this do-nothing approach has.

You only have to look at this years' stats on the seasonal Flu to see that even these moderate restrictions have made a difference there.

[DrCaleb]

$1:

With pandemic travel scandal, Kenney faces conservative kryptonite: elitism


How long do Albertans remember a scandal? It sort of depends. How long do Albertans remember missing out on their mom's funeral?

In the midst of a pandemic that has forced governments around the world to initiate sweeping invasions into the personal and professional lives of their citizens, it was revealed last week that United Conservative Party MLAs and cabinet ministers eschewed public health advisories against non-essential travel and hit the beaches.

Those revelations did not come easy.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... -1.5861274

[uwish]

what I really don't like, is at first Kenny said he wouldn't take any disciplinary action against the jet setting ministers. It was only after the outrage that he acted, I cannot for the life of me, understand how he would have been ok with this? I honestly thought he would have held them to account.

[bootlegga]

uwish uwish:

what I really don't like, is at first Kenny said he wouldn't take any disciplinary action against the jet setting ministers. It was only after the outrage that he acted, I cannot for the life of me, understand how he would have been ok with this? I honestly thought he would have held them to account.

The general consensus online is that he felt he was unable to because he had so many MLAs and staffers who went abroad. Whether or not that's correct, I don't really know, but it seems plausible at this point.

[DrCaleb]

bootlegga bootlegga:

uwish uwish:

what I really don't like, is at first Kenny said he wouldn't take any disciplinary action against the jet setting ministers. It was only after the outrage that he acted, I cannot for the life of me, understand how he would have been ok with this? I honestly thought he would have held them to account.

The general consensus online is that he felt he was unable to because he had so many MLAs and staffers who went abroad. Whether or not that's correct, I don't really know, but it seems plausible at this point.

In my eyes, he couldn't because then he would have to admit that the 'personal freedom' that he espoused was wrong because his MLAs chose to use that freedom. Don't get me wrong, I like personal freedom. But stupid acts win stupid prizes.

[JaredMilne]

This whole fiasco reminds me of this quote, which I think speaks volumes:

"A good reputation takes twenty years to build and five minutes to ruin. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."-Warren Buffet.

[DrCaleb]

Stupid prize #1:

Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pat Rehn ousted from UCP caucus, forced to sit as independent

[bootlegga]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Stupid prize #1:

Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pat Rehn ousted from UCP caucus, forced to sit as independent

[JaredMilne]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Stupid prize #1:

Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pat Rehn ousted from UCP caucus, forced to sit as independent

The vacation thing was just the last straw for this guy. The municipal councils of some of his riding's towns complained about how rarely he was in the riding, how often he ignored or underprepared for meetings and how he dedicated more time to his Texas business than his elected duties, to the point where the council of Slave Lake signed an open letter calling for him to resign.

How often does this sort of thing ever happen, especially in an Alberta where the old saying was that you could get a fence post elected if you painted it Tory blue?

That takes a special kind of stupid.