Photo courtesy of the Town of Slave Lake

By Liam Verster

Calls for MLA to Resign

Long list of grievances led to call for Lesser Slave Lake MLA’s resignation: Slave Lake Mayor

Jan 6, 2021 | 2:02 PM

The Town of Slave Lake has written an open letter to the Premier’s office and the MLA for Lesser Slave Lake, demanding Pat Rehn step down.

Slave Lake Mayor Tyler Warman says Council has been frustrated with Rehn and his lack of representation for the region. Six months ago, the town wrote a letter to the MLA to voice their concerns, to which they did not receive a response.

Warman says there’s an ever growing list of grievances with Rehn which date back nearly to the time he was elected.

“We’ve had issues that [Rehn’s] not been present in the riding, and talked to him about a lack of spending time here, or having a number of complaints from our residents that he doesn’t get back to them or return calls,” says Warman.

“We’ve had meetings with him where he comes and he’s unprepared and hasn’t read any of the stuff that we have, and doesn’t even address any of it.”

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He adds that in a few meetings with other MLAs and Ministers, Rehn failed to show up, or if he did he was also unprepared.

Warman adds the residents in the Lesser Slave Lake riding have also voiced similar concerns of not getting responses from their Legislative representative.

Rehn is one of several UCP MLAs who were punished for vacationing out of the country over the holidays, and has been stripped of his roles in Legislative committees. Warman says this creates an added concern that his region’s voice will not be heard in the Legislature.

“I appreciate actually that the Premier has brought in some discipline for his MLAs that did not act appropriately, but unfortunately we have someone that we felt wasn’t listening, wasn’t representing, wasn’t following up, wasn’t showing up. And now he’s actually been relieved of more duties in government, and has less accountability and less importance to go to government.”

Warman adds that this isn’t about the party or the provincial government, and that the constituency wants someone in the position who will fully represent the riding.

“We’re making a desperate attempt to say ‘Listen, It’s obviously not a position that you either understand or you’re interested in or have a passion for, or you would be spending your time here and fighting for the things that we need.

“So, go do what makes you happy, go do whatever you’re passionate about, move on and let’s get someone in there that can do the job and wants to do the job.'”

Warman says since the letter was sent on Tuesday afternoon, Rehn has not contacted him or the town.

However, Rehn did make a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon.

EverythingGP has reached out to Rehn’s Constituency and Legislative Offices, but has not received a response to a request for comment.