An Ottawa lawyer says he’s been under a barrage of threats since he suggested Jason Kenney misused his living allowance while serving as a Conservative member of parliament in Ottawa.
House of Commons rules allow MPs to claim living expenses for a second home in the nation’s capital while maintaining a home back in their riding.
Kenney claimed his primary residence was his mother’s bungalow in a Calgary retirement community while he was MP from 2012 to 2016.
But in a series of Twitter posts over the weekend, Kyle Morrow argued Kenney’s primary residence was actually in Ottawa.
He asked why Kenney was “entitled to a taxpayer-funded residence subsidy of $900/month when he only visited his riding four times?”
WATCH: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley responds to allegations against UCP Leader Jason Kenny regarding his address as a federal MP.
Morrow suggested the UCP leader may have been involved in a “scheme similar to the one employed by Senator Mike Duffy.”
READ MORE: Senate demands Mike Duffy repay $16,995 in ‘ineligible expenses’
Kenney’s deputy chief of staff says the allegations are disappointing and a non-issue.
“Taxpayers were not covering the cost of his Calgary accommodation in any way,” Matt Wolf said in an interview with Danielle Smith on Monday.
“It’s kind of disappointing that this is being dredged up and debated at all. I think Alberta has some very serious big issues to talk about: oil crisis, jobs, economy. Instead we’re talking about where Jason Kenney lived in Calgary a number of years ago.”
Kenney says he bought the bungalow with his mother after his father passed away, and lived in the finished basement suite so that he could spend time with her when he was in town.
“I have been a proud resident of Alberta for nearly three decades,” Kenney said in a statement.
“During that time, I have always owned, co-owned, or rented my principal residence in Alberta, first in Edmonton in the early 1990s, then Calgary. I paid my taxes in Alberta. My driver’s licence and health card were from Alberta. My doctor and dentist were in Alberta. My parish and volunteer activities were and are in Calgary. This, of course, all remains true to this day.”
READ MORE: Alberta premier apologizes for ‘sky palace’ situation
Morrow said he has referred the matter to the House of Commons board of internal economy and won’t comment further about it.
What’s the allegation?
What are the rules?
According to the House of Commons Members’ guide, MPs must consider the following criteria to determine which residence they should declare as their primary residence. One or more criteria may be sufficient:
- The primary residence is occupied by the member more often than the other residence.
- The primary residence is where the member most frequently resides on weekends and holidays (the member’s travel patterns between Ottawa and the constituency will also be considered).
- The primary residence is where the member’s spouse or partner lives most of the time.
- The primary residence is where the member’s young dependent children reside.
- The primary residence is in the area where the member’s dependent children attend primary/elementary and secondary school.
- The primary residence is the one declared on the member’s income tax return and is located in the province where the member votes and pays income taxes.
- The primary residence is in the province or territory where the member has public health coverage, and where the member’s driver’s licence is issued and vehicle registered.
READ MORE: What are the rules surrounding Alberta politicians’ living allowances?
Wolf says Kenney’s Calgary home meets the final two criteria.
“In the mid-’90s, he moved to Calgary. He’s either owned, co-owned or rented his accommodations in Calgary since that time. He files his taxes in Alberta, he votes in Alberta, his driver’s licence and health card were always from Alberta. His doctor and dentist are in Alberta. His own address has always been Alberta, in Calgary.”
READ MORE: Lawyer who made Kenney allegations declines to specify which housing rules were allegedly broken
Is there an issue here?
Kenney’s camp says he received a housing allowance for his accommodation while in Ottawa like all MPs and that no rules were broken.
“It’s kind of disturbing. This is really no one’s business on where specifically in Calgary he lived,” Wolf said.
“This is just a sleazy partisan smear to try and tar Jason Kenney as we head into the election.”
Whether or not rules were officially broken, the NDP has questions.
WATCH BELOW: A closer look at expense claims that led to Derek Fildebrandt’s resignation from the UCP caucus (Aug. 16, 2017)
“Just like there wasn’t a rule saying Mr. Fildebrandt couldn’t rent out his condo on Airbnb,” Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman said Monday. “If the taxpayers are paying for your residence, it’s because you don’t live there. If that’s your primary residence in Ontario, taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for you to live there.”
Hoffman said she’d like to see a full investigation and plans to refer the case to the ethics commissioner or a federal body. Her two main questions are: where did Kenney live and did he follow the proper expense protocols?
“You have to be an Ontario resident to donate to an Ontario political party,” she said. “Mr. Kenney donated to the Ontario Conservatives in 2016 so he himself saw himself as an Ontario resident but he’s claiming his primary residence is in Calgary.
“Those two pieces don’t fit together for me.”
In a news release Monday, the NDP said this shows Kenney either didn’t tell the truth about his residency status or a he made a fraudulent donation to an Ontario political party.
The UCP said the amount in question was a registration fee, not a donation. Kenney attended the 2016 Ontario PC General Meeting in Ottawa but was “not a voting delegate” and “has never been a member of the PC Party of Ontario.”
READ MORE: Alberta MLAs no longer allowed to use companies to rent out their apartments
Given past expense claim scandals, Alberta Party MLA Greg Clark isn’t against asking questions and looking closely at expense policy.
“In my experience… the vast majority of elected officials — federal, provincial, municipal — are there for the right reasons… not to get the next incremental dollar from some excessive expense claim,” Clark said in an interview with Smith.
“But in light of what we saw from the Derek Fildebrandt and the Airbnb thing, the provincial $1,900 allowance thing we had in Alberta until I fixed it, we always have to ask those questions.”
He added Wolf’s explanation about Kenney’s residency sounded “reasonable.”
“I do think it would be better if we were able to focus on the real issues that matter to Albertans: getting pipelines built, getting people back to work, making sure we have strong, sustainable health and education systems,” Clark said.
READ MORE: Awaiting the writ: which Alberta parties are prepared for the 2019 election?
A Mount Royal professor believes we can expect more allegations against candidates leading up to the provincial election.
“Even though the election hasn’t been officially called yet, we are fully in election mode,” Lori Williams, associate professor of Policy Studies, told Global News.
“All of the questions about the parties and the leaders are coming out. We’re seeing this in other parties as well.”
“The strategy of responding to each of these critics and focusing on what’s wrong with them, rather than the allegations they’re making, strategically, I don’t know that that’s the wisest move to make,” she said. “I think a direct response to the allegations being made is much more effective than attacking the person raising the questions.”
While she’s not surprised allegations are flying, she doesn’t believe Kenney broke any rules.
“Based on the information I’ve seen so far, it doesn’t look like it’s illegal. Again, it may raise questions optically.
“By the looks of things, he’s claiming expenses for a residence in Calgary that he didn’t spend very much time in, and as a federal cabinet minister, he has to have a residence in the constituency he represents as well as a residence in Ottawa where he is doing most of his work,” Williams explained.
“Unless more information comes forward, I don’t think that’s the primary concern, unless there was some improper misfiling. I think the bigger concern that some people will raise is the fact that he only made four trips in a year to Calgary, that the constituency he’s supposed to be representing was not one he was connecting with as much as he probably ought to have been.”
— With files from Tom Vernon
WATCH BELOW: Former premier Alison Redford made personal use of public assets. That is the finding of the auditor general in a report into the former premier’s expenses and use of government aircraft. As provincial affairs reporter Tom Vernon explains, the auditor says it can all be tied to an “aura of power.” (Aug. 7, 2014)
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