Ottwa
Brampton West Liberal MP Kamal Khera has resigned as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development while Pierrefonds Dollard MP Sameer Zuberi has also stepped down from multiple committee roles after admitting to recently traveling overseas despite strict travel restrictions due to the spread of the coronavirus.
In a tweet, Kamal Khera has posted a statement that she had traveled to Seattle to on Dec. 23 to attend a private memorial for her late uncle, then returning on Dec. 31 while statement from Zuberi said that he recently traveled to see his wife’s sick grandfather in Delaware, and had also returned on Dec. 31.
Ontario Finance Minister Rod Philips previously resigned Thursday after returning from a two-week vacation in the Caribbean. On Friday, the federal NDP removed MP Niki Ashton from her critic roles after she travelled to see her ill grandmother in Greece.
Another three Liberal MPs were also found to have traveled abroad in 2020, though had either done so in the summer or fall when COVID-19 restrictions were loosened.
Chief government whip said that his office was aware of and had approved the three trips taken in the summer, but did not know of or had greenlighted the recent trips by Zuberi and Khera.
