Day 6. 

Kenney sat down with Alberta at Noon’s Judy Aldous on Tuesday and was asked if he would support an investigation into his secondary residence subsidy.

“Sure,” Kenney replied, ” I guess it would go to the Board of Internal Economy which oversees MP expenses. I’m absolutely certain they will find there was nothing inappropriate”. 

Wednesday, Jennifer O’Connell, Member of Parliament for Pickering – Uxbridge and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Youth Economic Opportunities sent a letter to Speaker of the House of Commons to request one. 

On Thursday the United Conservative Party Caucus and Jason Kenney cried foul. 

Wait.  Back up a step there.  Why would Kenney suggest he would support an investigation and then claim to be a victim of partisan politics when a request for investigation was filed?  Sure maybe the request should have come from a Conservative who claims to stand up for taxpayers but… it didn’t. 

According to memes on social media, this investigation is a conspiracy against Jason Kenney by Prime Minister Trudeau and the Alberta NDP because they’re “good friends and allies“.  

Kenney says he complied with the rules because he paid taxes here and paid a healthcare premium. He also says he was given permission to claim the retirement residence as his own from his expense officer.  Even if it turns out Kenney didn’t live there, he thought he deserved to be compensated and the expenditure officer agreed. 

It’s so clean it squeaks. 

Jason Kenney, long-term MP, Minister of Immigration, Employment and Defence, and the Prime Minister’s number two, may simply have been the unwilling victim of an accommodating staffer. 

Across the aisle, Eric Rosendahl, MLA for West Yellowhead, allegedly had the opposite problem.  The Alberta Party’s Karen McPherson has requested an investigation into allegations that Rosendahl released an employee who refused to accommodate her employer’s request. 

According to a release on the Alberta Party website, MLA McPherson requested an investigation into the events which led up to a constituency staffer being fired after making a complaint to the Public Interest Commissioner.  The former staff member alleges she was asked to complete partisan political work during government business hours, which is strictly against the rules. 

It’s reminiscent of UCP MLA Jason Nixon’s difficult time after a member of his staff made a formal complaint about sexual harassment and he had to let her go.  Nixon has since said he regrets what happened and Kenney pointed out how old he was.  The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal apparently did not take Nixon’s age into consideration when they found him guilty of violating her rights.

Employees; right? 

Remember to always reflect on how difficult things are for those in positions of authority; you never know when an underling may willfully allow their higher ups to break the rules to become a scapegoat or demand the rules be followed and force someone to fire them.  TGIF. 

This post contains both fact and opinion.

Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean

[email protected]

@Mitchell_AB @thisweekinAB