The contents of a report are prompting calls for criminal investigations into the travel habits of Alberta’s former premier.
The report from the Auditor General claims false passengers were booked on government planes, to ensure they were empty and available for former premier Alison Redford, and staff accompanying her, to use.
Critics calling attention to Redford’s trips, such as travel on government planes with her daughter, is not new – and in some cases, a portion of the costs of those trips had been paid back.
However, a leaked Auditor General report suggests much more – alleging false passengers were booked on the planes, and later removed, leaving the government fleet flying almost empty.
That revelation has many calling for an investigation – and one political expert says the damage to the Progressive Conservative party over such revelations runs deep.
“’What else are you hiding?’ That is the question people will be asking,” Bob Murray, with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy said. “Is it really limited to the premier’s office? Were other cabinet ministers implicated?”
Minister of Finance Doug Horner, head of the ministry responsible for government travel, was not available for comment, as was Premier Dave Hancock, who was out of the country Tuesday.
“The premier is not here, he is aware of the information out there and he’s encouraging the Auditor General to fast track the review,” Kathleen Range with the Premier’s office said.
The three candidates for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party – the party Redford once led – also weighed in.
Candidate Thomas Lukaszuk said if he became premier he would remove Redford from the PC caucus, and both Ric McIver and Jim Prentice expressed anger, suggesting the case would have been different had they been in charge.
An official with Alberta Justice told CTV News that the department would cooperate with any RCMP investigation – but the department had not seen the leaked report, and an investigation had not been ordered.
Late Tuesday, Redford released her own response to CTV News, saying she had not seen the report herself: “I would be surprised if these allegations are true, but in any event, I also understand that the draft report makes clear that these were not practices I had any knowledge of, which reflects my comments to the Auditor General.”
Redford goes on to say she did not fly in the government plane alone. Read her full statement here.
With files from Serena Mah
