United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney responded publicly Saturday to allegations that he fraudulently collected residential subsidies on a secondary residence while serving as a Calgary-area MP.
The allegations were made by Kyle Morrow, an Ottawa-based lawyer with connections to Alberta, on Twitter last week.
Morrow suggested that Kenney collected $10,825.90 in taxpayer funded expenses for a secondary residence between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015 while not actually residing in the home that he listed as his primary residence.
While in Edmonton attending an event, Kenney defended the fact he listed his mom’s assisted care facility in Calgary as his residence and he claimed secondary residence subsidies, adding he followed all of the rules and qualified for the same assistance for housing as any other MP working in Ottawa, and what he did was greenlighted by the administration in the House of Commons.
Kenney said he was renting part of a home from his mother at the time who was living in a retirement village in Calgary.
“For a period of time, my parents were in financial difficulty. I shared a home with them so they had a place to stay,” said Kenney. “And for about 18 months while we were waiting for my mom to get into continuing care and I was waiting for my condo to be built in Calgary, I stayed with her but maintained always my driver’s license, my charitable. I would not have qualified for principle residency in Ontario. I actually checked.”
“When I was a busy federal minister I pretty much lived on the road, so I was in Ottawa about 140 nights a year give or take and on the road and in Alberta the rest of the year. So we complied with all the rules.”
Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel and Liberal Party Leader David Khan were also in attendance at the event focused on the economy. Premier Rachel Notley was not in attendance, with MLA Jessica Littlewood filling in on behalf of the NDP.
With files from Sarah Plowman
