The Alberta Legislature building in Edmonton

By EverythingGP Staff

Non-essential travel advised against

More UCP MLAs discovered to have travelled aboard over holidays

Jan 2, 2021 | 3:24 PM

CALGARY – More members of Alberta’s United Conservative government travelled abroad over the holidays despite widespread recommendations to stay home in order to curb the spread of COVID-19.

A spokeswoman for Alberta’s premier says MLA Jeremy Nixon has been ordered to cut short his trip to Hawaii and return home, while another government member has apologized for travelling to the U.S.

Christine Myatt issued an email statement saying Nixon, who represents the riding of Calgary-Klein, “will be returning on the earliest available flight.”

Myatt also directed inquiries about Calgary-Peigan MLA Tanya Fir to a facebook post in which the legislator apologized for travelling to the U.S. to visit her sister.

The post says Fir has since returned home.

Meantime, the MLA for Red Deer-South recently travelled to the United States, the premier’s office confirms.

Myatt tells rdnewsNOW that Jason Stephan went to Arizona.

He is currently working on returning to Alberta as per the directive issued Friday by Premier Kenney.

Pat Rehn, the MLA for Lesser Slave Lake, is also under fire after he posted a photo on his Facebook page Christmas Eve, where he appeared to be in Mexico.

Though he didn’t say exactly where he travelled to, Rehn apologized via his Facebook page on Saturday.

Premier Jason Kenney issued an order on Friday forbidding all of his caucus members and senior staff from traveling outside Canada unless it’s for government business, after it emerged that Grande Prairie MLA and Minister of Municipal Affairs Tracy Allard spent the holidays in Hawaii.

READ MORE: “In retrospect, I definitely made the wrong decision”: Allard apologizes for Hawaii vacation

The opposition NDP continue to call for Allard to be removed from Cabinet and for the UCP government to provide a full disclosure of all UCP Ministers and MLAs that travelled abroad this holiday season.

“Albertans deserve to know the name of every single elected member who left the country,” NDP Leader Rachel Notley said, in a release. “Clearly, this UCP Government thinks it is above the rules. I think the people of Alberta will hold them accountable for those beliefs.”

The NDP have maintained that all 24 of its MLAs spent the holidays in Alberta.

(With files from the Canadian Press and rdnewsNOW)