At long last, Jason Stephan has been sworn in as the MLA for Red Deer-South.
Stephan was sworn in on July 5, 15 days after the rest of his Legislative Assembly caucus-mates.
One must be sworn in to officially conduct their MLA duties.
A stink was raised a day after the rest of the UCP was sworn in on June 20, because Stephan was not present.
A UCP spokesperson told rdnewsNOW at the time that Stephan was on a pre-planned vacation out of the province, but did not specify its nature.
Stephan posted on his personal Facebook page on June 23, explaining that the trip was for his son’s wedding.
“After graduating from high school and working to save money, my oldest son was called to a two year mission for our church in Africa,” Stephan wrote. “This spring my son got married. As our wedding present to our son and his beautiful bride, my wife and I agreed to pay for a trip back to Africa, so he could share some of the wonderful places and people he served with us and his bride. We booked this trip months ago, in early March, before the election in May, before any swearing in date conflict.
The Opposition NDP called his absence from the original swearing-in ceremony “shameful”, adding that Red Deerians deserve better.
It wasn’t known at the onset at which time Stephan would be sworn in, just that the MLAs would return to session on Oct. 30.
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