• Department backtracks & releases documents to the CTF
• Prentice expensed chartered flight from Calgary to Fort MacLeod

CALGARY, AB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has conducted a review of the Honourable Jim Prentice’s expense claims as the federal minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and found at least one major irregularity. (Photo Jim Prentice: Flickr/Manning Centre)

Records ‘Destroyed’

The CTF was informed in May by the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AAND) that Mr. Prentice’s expense claims as the minister of that department – requested in an Access to Information (ATI) request – were destroyed. 

The CTF believed that the records had been improperly destroyed and requested that AAND conduct an internal review to ensure that no mistakes had been made. One month later, AAND reaffirmed to the CTF that no mistakes had been made and that the records had certainly been destroyed.

Records ‘Not’ Destroyed, Anymore

The CTF subsequently filed several new ATI requests and was soon thereafter informed by AAND that in fact, the records were not destroyed. 

“The CTF questions the validity of the reasons given for the ‘destroyed’ records and the completeness of the records that we eventually managed to obtain from the department,” said CTF Alberta Director, Derek Fildebrandt. “After the process that we went through to obtain these expense claims, the initial story doesn’t pass the smell test.” 

After obtaining the records, the CTF conducted a review of the expense claims and found at least one irregularity.  

To view the full report, click HERE.

To download the full records, click HERE and HERE.

Charter Flight from Calgary to Fort MacLeod 

The CTF found that Mr. Prentice chartered a private aircraft from the Calgary International Airport with three of his staffers, where it flew six minutesto the Calgary Springbank Airport to pick him up. The chartered aircraft then flew to Fort MacLeod, a small town a shortdriving distance away from Calgary.

Mr. Prentice’s daughter was scheduled to fly with him, but was dropped from the passenger list two days before he flight. The aircraft flew at between 27 per cent and 50 per cent capacity and cost an average of $742.73 for each passenger to travel the short distance. This appears to be in clear contravention of travel rules set out by the Parliament of Canada. 

“Many Calgarians drive to Fort MacLeod on a Sunday afternoon down the straight, two-lane highway. It’s difficult to fathom how chartering an expensive, private aircraft that flew largely empty for the short distance made any sense,” continued Fildebrandt. “The thought would never even strike the vast majority of Calgarians to charter a private aircraft to visit Fort MacLeod.”

Fildebrandt concluded, “Documents obtained through ATI or FOI can sometimes lack context, so we welcome Mr. Prentice to clarify or explain these charges if he feels this is the case.”

The released records include 3,264 pages and 348MB of documents. The CTF encourages the public and interested parties to view the documents for themselves.