Pat Rehn

In December 2020, Rehn travelled to Xplor Park in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for the holidays contrary to provincial public health advice to avoid non-essential travel during the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta.[3] Premier Jason Kenney demoted Rehn from his legislative committee duties as a result.[4]

On January 5, 2021, the Slave Lake Town Council wrote an open letter to Rehn demanding his resignation from the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The letter alleged Rehn, among other reasons listed, no longer lived in the constituency, cared more about his business interests in Texas, and frequently missed or was ill-prepared for meetings between provincial and local officials and therefore failed to adequately represent the community or its residents.[5][6] In response, Rehn accused the council of sowing political division, acknowledged that his holiday travel decisions were poor, defended his local connections citing prior work history and current home ownership, and defended visiting Texas multiple times in the past year to handle "essential business matters". Rehn did not address the allegations about missing government meetings about local issues.[5]

On January 13, the High Prairie town council signed a letter to Rehn and Kenney criticizing Rehn's lack of presence in his riding and demanding Rehn improve his local representation.[7] The same day, Big Lakes County town council discussed Rehn's conduct at a closed door meeting.[8] In the same week, Rehn's expense claims for the first two quarters of 2020 became public, and showed that he spent little time in his constituency, claiming meal per diems in Edmonton for all but two days in May when the legislature only sat for five days because of the pandemic, most days in June, and all of July.[9]

On January 14th, 2021 Kenney announced that Rehn had been removed from the UCP caucus and would sit as an independent, saying that Rehn "has made no meaningful effort to work in his constituency, or properly to represent his hard-working constituents" and had ignored previous internal calls to improve his local representation.[9] Rehn was also barred from running for any future UCP nominations.[9]