Alberta UCP backbenchers support loosening ethics rules

Grant Hunter is sworn into office in Edmonton on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. United Conservative Party members are urging the government to exempt most political staffers from being bound by conflict of interest rules. (Jason Franson)

Alberta's Opposition NDP says the province would become the most corrupt and secretive government in Canada if potential ethics rule changes become law.

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United Conservative Party legislature committee members are urging the government to exempt most political staffers from being bound by conflict of interest rules.

Those rules currently limit how much staffers can accept in the form of gifts and spell out if they need to be reported.

NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir says if adopted, the proposals would mean no one would know who might be buying the government.

He says loosened restrictions made last year already shield the government from being transparent and it would be worse if the new rules went ahead.

The push comes after multiple ministers said they accepted hockey playoff tickets from a medical supplier involved in a $70-million deal to purchase medication from Turkey that has yet to be delivered.

UCP backbencher Grant Hunter says Alberta is an outlier among the provinces in including senior public servants under ethics rules.