Skip to content

Jason Kenney disputes expense allegations while MP

Questions over his residential expense claims from his time as a cabinet minister in Ottawa
15222384_web1_CPT122524953

Staff for Alberta United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney are firing back at a lawyer who is questioning Kenney’s residential expense claims from his time as a cabinet minister in Ottawa.

Kenney spokesman Matt Wolf says not only are Kyle Morrow’s suggestions untrue, but adds that Morrow can’t point to any rule Kenney is supposed to have broken regarding having homes in two cities.

Wolf says it’s a partisan smear — meant to undermine Kenney as an election approaches in Alberta — from a former provincial Liberal candidate.

Morrow, an Ottawa-based lawyer, alleged and posted documents on social media on the weekend that questioned why Kenney, while working as an MP, listed a Calgary home as his primary residence when flight records suggest he spent little time there.

House of Commons rules say that time spent living in a home is only one of many conditions to be considered for an MP to qualify to have a residence in a second city.

The rules state that as long as MPs have ties to an area — such as paying taxes or having a driver’s licence from there — they qualify for the second residence.

Wolf says Kenney met those conditions in Calgary.

Kenney has also said Calgary housing expenses came out of his own pocket while he received about $10,000 a year allowance to subsidize his place in Ottawa.

Morrow could not be immediately reached for comment.