Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pat Rehn is no longer part of the UCP Caucus. The now-independent MLA, who admitted to travelling to Mexico over the Christmas holidays, was removed from caucus by Premier Jason Kenney on Thursday morning.
Rehn, who was publicly criticized by Slave Lake council, suggesting his performance as MLA was subpar, was also the target of a recent letter sent by councillors from the Town of High Prairie.
“I’ve heard from many of our residents the same concerns; they have not been happy with his performance, and I know as a council we have talked about it before…but we really haven’t done anything about it,” said High Prairie Mayor Brian Panasiuk during a recent council meeting.
Panasiuk commended Slave Lake councillors for airing their concerns publicly, suggesting it was a potential catalyst to them following suit.
“They stepped up and did something about it and they’ve been working with this issue more than we did and I do commend them for taking that action,” he added.
Premier Jason Kenney said in a post on Facebook that the most important job of a Member of the Legislative Assembly is to represent his or her constituents, and that it became clear that Rehn has failed to do so.
Written by Michael Lumsden, MyGrandePrairieNow.com