Red Deer city councillors did not travel abroad during holidays

“Have you recently left the province/country despite provincial and federal guidelines against any non-essential travel?”

All eight city councillors – Buck Buchanan, Michael Dawe, Tanya Handley, Vesna Higham, Ken Johnston, Lawrence Lee, Frank Wong, Dianne Wyntjes – replied saying they did not.

Mayor Tara Veer also did not travel during the holidays, city officials confirm.

“This was the first Christmas I did not see my son or my nieces, nephews and extended family in Calgary, let alone our many friends in the city,” shared Johnston. “Many cherished Christmas traditions were broken, like most Albertans experienced. We realize many Albertans, many Red Deerians, have it far worse as they grapple with their crippled livelihoods and the loss of loved ones.”

Dawe and Wong said they made brief trips to Calgary in December while still following public health guidelines.

Handley said she has not travelled out of the country since last January.

Buchanan, who publicly apologized in March for comments he made about the pandemic while he was in Arizona, said Sunday that provincial politicians aren’t doing themselves any favours by creating a double standard.

“I think they have to make this thing (pandemic) make sense to people and this travel thing is just one more confusion for people to try to understand – and I don’t think people are in an understanding mood,” he suggested.

Wyntjes vacationed out of country in February prior to travel advisories being issued. She says she was in Invermere, B.C. for two days in July but cancelled a planned trip to attend a family wedding in Victoria in August (which she took in virtually).

Wyntjes wrote MLA Stephan and Premier Jason Kenney on Sunday to voice her disappointment over the burgeoning travel controversy.

“I noted in my letter with the optics of recent government leadership actions of travelling, that some Albertans will now see this as hypocrisy and as an excuse to break and disrespect the pandemic rules and procedures,” she said.

“I believe we must all be sensitive to the pandemic procedures and be mindful to the health impacts of COVID along with our community’s mental, emotional and financial/economic health, including local businesses who are now temporarily shut down and individuals who are not employed nor have no job to return to. The recent travelling disclosure, or lack thereof, has added to a distrust of government.”

by Troy Gillard

Red Deer city councillors did not travel abroad during holidays

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