CALGARY, AB: Today the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) responded to the Auditor General’s report, calling for a full judicial inquiry into the use of government airplanes by the cabinet and government caucus, and for the sale of at least two of the three government airplanes. (Photo Flicker/Dave Cournoyer)
The AG’s report makes explicit that “other areas of the government were wary of challenging decisions made in the premier’s office” and complied with the “aura of power around Premier Redford and her office.”
“The steady trickle of scandal and waste coming from the Premier’s Office through Freedom of Information requests, leaks and AG reports has made clear that there’s more to this story,” said CTF Alberta Director Derek Fildebrandt. “Albertans deserve to know just how deep this story goes and the only way to do that is for the Premier Hancock to call a full, judicial inquiry.
“The RCMP will investigate breaches of a criminal nature, but we set a higher bar for our public officials. A full investigation with scope beyond the premier’s office with the power to subpoena is necessary to determine which cabinet ministers, MLAs and staffers were either a part of this, or knew about it and did nothing.”
Both Premier Hancock and Finance Minster Horner have both stood in the legislature and denied that government aircraft were used for partisan purposes, claims that the Auditor General has proven to be untrue (pages 26-27).
“Hancock and Horner have both misled Albertans about the partisan use of government aircraft. Freedom of Information requests and question period are clearly not enough to get to the bottom of this. We need a vehicle to obtain answers with the power to compel testimony on pain of perjury if they lie. If the government wants to have any hope of convincing Albertans that it is serious about holding those who have done wrong accountable, then it must call a judicial inquiry,” continued Fildebrandt.
The AG report also stated that Finance and Treasury Board made no effort at all to justify the cost of the government maintaining its own VIP air fleet (page 2). The CTF today repeated its call from February 2012 to sell two of the three government airplanes and conduct a study about keeping the third.
“The government has made no case whatsoever other than Question Period bluster that maintaining a fleet of three government aircraft makes financial sense. The government should sell off two of the three aircraft and conduct a thorough study to determine if it makes financial and logistical sense to maintain a single aircraft for accessing remote locations inside the province,” concluded Fildebrandt.
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