Renewables not ready to meet demand for electricity

July 4, 2014 By

Letters to the Editor  Lethbridge Herald

July 3, 2014

I would like to respond to your recent guest column by Ben Thibault (June 18 Herald) extolling the virtues of renewables solar and wind while comparing Alberta and U.S. coal generation statistics. This is a phoney comparison since they
have 104 nuclear plants on their grid and we have none.  Until we solve the problems of large-scale storage of electricity, we cannot expect renewables to solve our emissions problems. Just because the “fuel=wind” is free does not mean wind farms are emissions free. Large amounts of carbon dioxide are generated in creating the concrete and rebar bases for wind towers, to say nothing of the steel required for the towers themselves. Depending on the size of the
installation, these towers have to be strong to handle the considerable wind forces on them. Then there is the copper for the generator and the cables, aluminum and steel for the transmission towers and lines. In the case of solar, the
“fuel=sunlight” is free but we still have problems with large-scale installations covering considerable amounts of land as well as with the chemicals used in the manufacture of the panels.  As technology currently stands in Alberta, wind power has a large installed capacity that is on the average operational about a third of the time and moonbeams don’t work for the solar. These renewables are intermittent. Other jurisdictions in the world are finding out that massive public support for renewables, although initially politically appealing, is in the long run financially costly for the public purse. Just look at Ontario for a made-in-Canada example.
We may choose to use solar, wind and batteries for our homes but that total demand is a minor part of the electricity use in the province.
Laurence G. Hoye
Diamond City

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Land users to council: No wires

June 16, 2014 By

By John Stoesser, QMI Agency

In a move to block a proposed power line project a local landowners association asked M.D. council to consider designating Divisions 1 and 2 of the county as wind power and transmission line-free zones at a recent meeting.

“It is our request to find a way to declare the area south of Highway 3 and west of Highway 810 as an area free of wind farm development and high-voltage transmission lines,” Stephan Blum, the vice-president of the Chinook Area Land Users Association, said. “Why are we asking this? What I’m trying to do…is run you through a number of facts that deal with wind power and hopefully open up a discussion.”

Blum’s information-heavy presentation and request didn’t start a flood of queries from council.

“Well Stephan, you look like you expected a bunch of questions,” Councillor Fred Schoening said. “I am surprised that you are surprised… I am the Division 2 councillor and I try to keep my ear on the ground and listen to the people in my division. So I think I know where you’re coming from. I’m also a landlord in that division and the power lines could affect me. But we have to glean this as information and sort through what is the best way to do it, so don’t expect a whole bunch of questions.”

Claiming to represent over 200 individuals and roughly 80 per cent of the landowners in those divisions, Blum gave the councillors plenty to mull over.

“It is possible for us to do a zone, a no-wind zone, a no-go zone,” director of development and community services Roland Milligan said, noting that the Burmis-Lundbreck Area Structure Plan already regulates wind development in some places. “But one thing you have to remember, it is an amendment to the land use document. It’s a political process, a public process.”

The land user association pointed to a number of reasons for prohibiting wind energy and power lines in the area.

They say that the needs document that forms the basis for installing power lines as part of the Alberta Electric System Operator’s (AESO) regional grid-strengthening project is outdated, rendering the planned lines unnecessary or at least over-sized.
The AESO’s original needs document for the Southern Alberta Transmission Reinforcement (SATR) project was approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) on September 8, 2009.
“This is a time when everything was increasing,” said Blum, an engineer. “Oil prices were increasing, energy prices were increasing. Everybody was mad about the economic development at the time. That’s where the data were generated that predicated the growth that actually is happening for the next 25 to 35 years. What happened after that, we all know, the whole financial market collapsed and we got into a very different scenario compared to what we had before.”
The AESO has heard these claims before and in a previous interview Greg Retzer, the vice-president of transmission project delivery, said that they revisit the parametres for new power lines on a regular basis and that the needs were approved.
On Friday, May 30, AESO posted their long-term outlook that predicted the provincial economy, along with energy generation, will continue to grow. While the report indicated that growth would be primarily linked to the oil and gas industry in northern Alberta it did forecast that Alberta’s wind power generation will double from 1,088 to over 2,200 megawatts in 10 years time.
A large portion of the province’s wind power is generated in southern Alberta, including the Pincher Creek area. The lines that would run through the region are part of the proposed 220 kilometre-long Goose Lake to Etzikom Coulee (GLEC) transmission project. Contracted to AltaLink under the SATR umbrella, the project to connect wind generation to the grid has an estimated cost between $300 million to $450 million.
“We risk mortgaging the future of Albertans because once (the power lines) are there they cannot be removed easily,” Blum said, claiming the GLEC lines running through Pincher Creek would greatly reduce land value in the county. “So we will see the long-term destruction of the majesty of the mountain parts and this pristine area.”
According to an update the AESO and AltaLink are currently undertaking engineering studies on the GLEC component of SATR before continuing with applications and public consultations.
The stage to connect the Ware Junction to Langdon substation east of Calgary was recently cancelled. Other portions of the project are on hold after AESO identified them as missing progress marks as of yet.
“With regards to transmission we don’t really have any say where that goes, that’s a provincial driven thing,” Milligan said. “If it’s approved by the province we get to comment and if they feel it’s justified to go through an area we said we don’t want it to go through, they can overrule us according to the Municipal Government Act.”
According to financial statements released in April the municipal district expects to bring in almost $2.9 million from taxes on electrical and co-generation in 2014.
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Opposition attack on Tory leadership frontrunner Jim Prentice a measure of how deeply Alison Redford wounded her party

June 13, 2014 By
by David Climenhaga on June 12, 2014

If you’re looking for a yardstick with which to measure the truly spectacular failure of the short, unhappy reign of Alison Redford over Alberta, just consider the last few days as experienced by Jim Prentice.

Mr. Prentice, of course, is the front-runner in the race to become Ms. Redford’s permanent replacement at the helm of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative dynasty, which has ruled Alberta for 43 years now.

There are two other contenders in the race – the former Redford Government infrastructure minister from Calgary, Ric McIver, and the former labour minister from Edmonton, Thomas Lukaszuk. But the smart money on both sides of the Legislature has from the start been on the winner being Mr. Prentice, until recently a bank executive, pipeline lobbyist and journeyman politician who served in the federal Conservative cabinet.

For her part, Ms. Redford became the leader of the party only in October 2011, after a short, exciting campaign in which the justice minister and one-term MLA won – to the astonishment of everyone, including herself and her campaign manager, one suspects – the party membership vote to replace Ed Stelmach as premier.

She was emphatically not the choice of the PC Party’s movers and shakers – who were dismissed at the time as a self-interested old boys’ club, and perhaps that was true. But it was soon apparent the old boys’ instincts ought not to have been so lightly dismissed. It turned out there was a reason nobody in the PC caucus much liked Ms. Redford: she was breathtakingly arrogant, paid no attention her MLAs and was apparently politically tone deaf to boot.

A steady stream of broken promises, a war on her own most enthusiastic progressive supporters, scandalous misuse of government airplanes, staggeringly expensive travel bills and an astonishingly dumb plan to build a luxury premier’s penthouse atop a downtown government building all soon followed.

Ms. Redford’s personal popularity with voters plunged to abyssopelagic depths, with party approval ratings sinking in her wake. In March, her panic-stricken caucus effectively fired her and the contest to replace her commenced.

Mr. Prentice immediately emerged as the obvious frontrunner – with everyone apparently in agreement that if the party were to save itself, it must have an “outsider” at the helm. Not that Mr. Prentice is really an outsider, but he wasn’t part of the Redford Government and he seemed to know what he was doing, two qualities that made him stand out above the other two contenders.

And this time, the party old boys were determined to have their man, and they would not be thwarted!

So, quite naturally, right from the get-go, the opposition parties have taken aim at Mr. Prentice, the most obvious threat to the success of their effort to finally overturn the Tory applecart in Alberta.

Their tactics are clearly influenced by the opportunity presented by Ms. Redford’s appalling record. In other words, they would do their best to define Mr. Prentice in the minds of voters as essentially the same thing as Ms. Redford, only wearing pants.

This is a bit of a reach because, whatever his flaws may be, the amiable Mr. Prentice is quite obviously not the same person as the former premier who brought the party low.

The New Democrats were the first out of the gate, assigning Mr. Prentice the nickname “Diamond Jim,” claiming his tastes are just as patrician, and as expensive, as Ms. Redford’s notorious sense of entitlement.

Last week the Wildrose Opposition and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, working as a partisan tag team, tried to leave the impression Mr. Prentice had something to hide about his expense accounts as a federal cabinet minister, and raised a great ballyhoo about the fact his office had destroyed expense claims after they were submitted way back in 2006.

They were trying to make Mr. Prentice look as entitled with taxpayer dollars as Ms. Redford appeared to be – although it seems like a bit of a reach to assail someone for not keeping their copies of their receipts after submitting them to their employer seven years ago. I don’t know about you, but I’m certain I couldn’t meet that standard.

Now, if the CTF is unhappy with the fact Mr. Prentice’s expense claims were destroyed, it seems their complaint is really with the government of Stephen Harper, whose policies it was that Mr. Prentice observed. But that will have to be a topic for another day.

Yesterday, the NDP were back on the attack, using the “Diamond Jim” sobriquet again and distributing federal flight logs from Mr. Prentice’s tenure in the Harper cabinet that they said showed a penchant for government planes not so different from Ms. Redford’s.

Federal flight logs for government aircraft cited by the New Democrats showed that Mr. Prentice used the planes for at least 29 flights between 2006 and 2010, at a cost to taxpayers calculated at more than $421,000, said Deron Bilous, the NDP’s critic on MLA affairs.

Mr. Prentice’s  use of government planes, Mr. Bilous said in the NDP’s press release,  “shows a sense of entitlement and disregard for public money that Albertans have come to expect from the Alberta PCs.”

The release added: “A highlight reel of Prentice’s travel includes calling an empty plane to Regina to pick him up with one staff person and fly both back to Ottawa. On a flight to Oslo with two staff, the choice to use the government plane instead of flying commercial cost Canadians $26,000. The total cost of his use of government aircraft exceeds $400,000.”

This is embarrassing, of course, in light of Mr. Prentice’s stern campaign repudiation of Ms. Redford’s first-class flying.

It illustrates the depths to which Ms. Redford’s almost unbelievable incompetence dragged her party – which richly deserves to lose an election after tolerating her antics as long as it did and then pretending not to have known about them.

However, it is said here, calling Mr. Prentice “Diamond Jim” and painting him as Alison Redford in a riverboat gambler’s getup is not going to be good enough to turn Alberta voters away from old habits that, notwithstanding the latest polls, are sure to die hard.

A more promising line of attack, it is said here, is discovering Mr. Prentice’s record in office and in business – if any.

Really, very little is known about what Mr. Prentice actually stands for, other than pipelines and bank profits. He was well liked in office, but whether than ever actually translated into action is not yet clear. His low-bridge campaign is designed to keep it that way.

The other part of the narrative the two opposition parties are going to have to get across to voters is the positive reasons why Albertans should elect the Wildrose Party as government and the NDP as opposition.

Now would be a good time for them to start on both those projects.

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Alberta First Nations suing regulator over denial to weigh in on oilsands project

June 13, 2014 By

Regulator’s decisions on whose voice gets heard could be discriminatory, says legal expert

The Canadian Press Posted: Jun 12, 2014 11:55 AM ETLast Updated: Jun 12, 2014 12:49 PM ET

Two aboriginal bands are taking Alberta’s energy regulator to court after it denied them the right to speak at hearings into an oilsands development near their traditional lands.

“Alberta’s regulatory system silences concerns, which is more Third World than world class,” said Chief Henry Gladue of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation. “Alberta is saying one thing and doing something very different.”

Last March, the Alberta Energy Regulator told the Beaver Lake Cree Nation and the Whitefish Lake First Nation that they wouldn’t be allowed to address hearings into Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s (TSX:CNQ) Kirby expansion proposal.

The two groups were among five First Nations and one environmental group that had asked to air their concerns about the 85,000-barrel-a-day project. All those applications were denied and the regulator cancelled planned public hearings.

Although the Beaver Lake band said the development would be on its traditional lands and on at least one member’s trapline, the regulator ruled that wasn’t enough to be considered directly and adversely affected.

It told the band it must “demonstrate actual use of land and other natural resources in the project area by its members.”

The regulator used a similar argument with the Whitefish Lake First Nation and added that the band’s concerns about cumulative effects were “general in nature and not related to the project or the project lands.”

‘Resource development can co-exist with First Nations and can happen in a way that respects our traditional way of life — but not if we are frozen out of the process by the Alberta energy regulator.’– Whitefish Lake Chief James Jackson Jr.

Whitefish Lake Chief James Jackson Jr. said in a release that his band has routinely been granted standing in the past.

“Our past participation in the regulatory process helped resource companies better understand our concerns and provided at least some motivation for industry to work with First Nations to address our concerns,” he said.

“Resource development can co-exist with First Nations and can happen in a way that respects our traditional way of life — but not if we are frozen out of the process by the Alberta Energy Regulator.”

Documents filed with the Alberta Court of Appeal say the regulator’s decision was “flawed, arbitrary and unfair” and made public-interest rulings in a “factual vacuum.”

“In refusing to grant a regulatory hearing, there can be no, or no adequate, consideration of the potential adverse impacts on the First Nations’ constitutionally protected rights,” the documents read.

“Without a hearing, the First Nations are effectively precluded from participating any mitigation or accommodation measures to mitigate these impacts,” says the appeal.

At least one legal expert has suggested that the regulator’s decisions on whose voice gets heard could be discriminatory.

“It seems unlikely that the (regulator) would ask whether a fee simple owner actually used her land as part of determining whether that person was directly and adversely affected,” Nigel Bankes, a University of Calgary resource law professor, wrote in a recent analysis.

The regulator’s dismissal of cumulative effects concerns undermines the agency’s intended task, he added.

“The demanding nature of the tests suggests that a First Nation will never be able to establish direct and adverse effect based on a cumulative effects argument,” Bankes wrote. “Such a conclusion is inconsistent with the statutory mandate of the (regulator).”

Bankes and opposition politicians have said the Kirby decision is an example of a new pattern of restricting who is entitled to express concerns about oilsands developments. Last fall, two different aboriginal groups were also denied standing to appear at public hearings on proposals adjacent to their traditional lands.

A Queen’s Bench judge, on a separate matter, urged the government and the regulator to draw the circle widely when seeking public input on oilsands development.

The appeal is expected to be heard in the fall.

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NDP blasts energy pilot project that would see fracking regulations reduced – Says government plan undermines environmental regime

June 13, 2014 By

By Marty Klinkenberg, Edmonton Journal June 12, 2014

EDMONTON – Alberta’s NDP is concerned that the provincial government is working with oil and gas executives to reduce regulations related to the controversial process of fracking.

A government document obtained by the NDP shows Alberta’s Energy Regulator is scheduled to meet next week with industry officials to discuss a pilot project that will reduce regulations and streamline the application process for fracking and other forms of unconventional oil and gas development.

The information session on June 17 is meant to brief industry representatives on regulations that will be tested in the Fox Creek area beginning in September. Representatives from Alberta’s Environment and Energy departments will also attend the meeting, the document shows.

“At the same time government is selling itself as being a steward of the environment, it is working behind closed doors to undermine the integrity of our environmental regime,” NDP critic Rachel Notley said Thursday. “It is the type of game-playing you expect from a tired, 40-year-old government that is not going to change.

“Making major changes to regulations that govern fracking shouldn’t be done behind closed doors with a bunch of industry insiders, it should happen in public. Albertans deserve better than this.”

Bob Curran, a spokesman for the Alberta Energy Regulator, said the regulations on trial will apply only to development in the Fox Creek area, site of a geological formation estimated to contain 443 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 61.7 billion barrels of oil.

“Let’s be clear: this is a draft for a pilot, brought about predominantly by landowner concerns that we have heard about for years,” Curran said in an email. “A pilot project, by definition, is designed to test draft regulations.

“We are not changing the regulations, nor are we proposing changes at this time. We are putting together a pilot project. That is all.”

According to the document obtained by the NDP, a final version of the regulations under review is scheduled to be released on June 27.

A recent draft of the pilot project describes it as “the start of a change in the way that the AER regulates the energy sector.”

The regulations being tested “are intended to reduce the burden placed on industry” and “manage risks to achieve play-based objectives and Government of Alberta policy outcomes.”

The regulations to be tested propose a single application process that authorizes activities carried out over the lifetime of a project, and tasks approval-holders with reporting requirements.

“Overall the intent (of the approach) is orderly and responsible development,” the draft says.

Curran said if government decides to implement regulatory changes based on the pilot project, the proposed changes will be made public and an opportunity will be provided for feedback.

Notley believes government has already made up its mind, however.

“If the pilot project is successful, it will serve as a template for future development,” she said. “There is no question the rules that will govern this type of thing are already a long way down the road.”

[email protected]

Twitter: @martykej

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
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INDUSTRY INSIDERS SETTING THE AGENDA ON FRACKING REGULATIONS: NOTLEY

June 13, 2014 By

For immediate release | June 12, 2014

NDP News Feed

EDMONTON ––Today, New Democrat Environment critic Rachel Notley released an internal document obtained by the New Democrats which shows that the new energy regulator and the PCs are only consulting with industry insiders on a pilot project for fracking. Notley is calling on the PCs to ensure that First Nations, environmental groups, as well as all other interested Albertans, are included in the consultation process.

“Yet again, this PC government is only consulting with their friends and insiders, while excluding the rest of us,” Notley said. “Making major changes to the regulations that govern fracking shouldn’t be done behind a closed door, with a bunch of industry insiders—it should happen out in the light, in public.”

In 2011, the New Democrats released information showing that the government was colluding with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) to create a public relations strategy for fracking.

Yesterday, two First Nations announced they were suing the Alberta Energy Regulator, after they had been excluded from hearings on development applications.

“It’s just business-as-usual for this PC government to talk about consulting and about a world-class regulatory regime and then turn around and work secretly with industry to ‘reduce the regulatory burden,’” Notley said. “Albertans are tired of a secretive, old-boys club approach to development in this province. We need a government that puts Albertans first.”

Notley noted that the draft regulations include several troubling elements which would profoundly reduce independent oversight of fracking activity in the province.

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Candidates need to get disagreeable

June 13, 2014 By

June 12, 2014. 7:55 am • Section: Election insight

Posted by Susan Elliott

With apologies to Jerry Seinfeld, this is a post about nothing.  It was supposed to be a post highlighting the policy differences between the three PC candidates.

Instead we have a Letterman top-ten list of the ways they agree:

10.  All three will end “entitlements” which have slightly different definitions, but pretty much mean “see how far I can run from Alison Redford”.

9.  All care deeply for average Albertans.

8.  All think we should be patient while flood victims decide whether to take a government buy out.

7.  All are committed to public health care.

6.  All would review the closure of the Michener Centre.

5.  All want to help the mentally ill.

4.  All would stop spending money on ridiculous things.

3.  On that note, none would give taxpayer money to hockey arenas.

2. All would change the format of the provincial budget back to more-or-less the way it was.

And the number one way all of the candidates agree is …

1. They all support the oil sands.

Now to be fair, the process of getting into this race was weird.

Despite the vacancy occurring on March 23, candidates had to wait until May 15 to pick up papers. They weren’t allowed to raise money or spend a dime until they returned those papers by May 30.

That is twisted because to take out the papers they needed $20,000, and to return them they needed another $30,000 plus 500 signatures collected in person from around the province – all of which requires money but fundraising is prohibited by law until you return the papers.  They couldn’t even use personal funds because the donation limit is $30,000. So each of them had to break one law or another just to be here.  I digress.

What it means is before June 1, they couldn’t assemble advisors, travel around and consult with Albertans, or do the other things you do to develop policy.

So here, in mid-June, it is too much to expect hefty policy platforms from them.

But all have been involved in politics for a long time. They must have ideas. Maybe they are waiting until the dog days of summer to roll them out when no one is looking.

But there are only so many times the headlines can tell us what today’s topic of agreement is.

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Prentice questioned on public health stance

June 6, 2014 By
By Dean Bennett  The Canadian Press

EDMONTON – Alberta Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice is being questioned on his commitment to public health care, given he sat on a corporate board that oversaw a pricey private clinic.

The advocacy group Friends of Medicare and the NDP say Prentice needs to make clear what changes, if any, he would make on private delivery in the public system.

“This government has been very good at privatizing our health care by stealth,” Sandra Azocar, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said Friday.

“We want to know exactly what we can look forward to in the next two years if (Prentice) is elected premier.”

Prentice is one of three men vying to win the PC party’s leadership vote in September.

He campaign team says he has cut all his corporate ties as part of his bid for the top job.

One of those ties was a seat on the board of directors of Coril Holdings, which owns a Calgary boutique clinic named Inliv that offers patients full service fitness and health care for a top price of almost $4,500 a year.

Inliv offers a range of services, including medical assessments, specialist referrals, personal training, nutrition counselling, skin screening, specialized lab testing, Botox and one-on-one yoga.

Bill Anderson, a spokesman for the Prentice campaign, said Prentice’s philosophy is unequivocal.

“Both Jim and his family use public health and they’re enormous supporters of the public health-care system in Canada,” said Anderson.

He declined to say what Prentice would do, if anything, about private clinics, also called “concierge” clinics.

“Over the course of the campaign, Jim will be providing more detail on what his vision is for health care.”

Calgary-based Coril Holdings has a number of other subsidiary companies that deal in real estate, machinery and rail-track maintenance.

Azocar and NDP health critic David Eggen said private clinics violate the spirit of public care because they employ doctors who bill the public system for insured services while working in a clinic where only the well-heeled can join.

“(The clinics) take out human resources from our public system and create an inequity that is a slap in the face to our medicare system,” said Azocar.

“If (those doctors) want to work in the private system, then opt out.”

Eggen agreed.

“A leader of the PC party and potential premier should stay a mile away from anything like this if he is truly committed to public health care and public delivery of health care,” said Eggen.

“These clinics are designed to undermine full, equal access to health care and put people at the front of the line.”

There has been controversy over such clinics in the past.

Last year, a provincial inquiry into Alberta Health Services and queue-jumping determined that patients from the private Helios Wellness Centre had been pushed to the head of the line for colon-cancer screening tests at a publicly funded facility.

The inquiry heard testimony that Helios patients were seen within weeks, while non-Helios patients were forced to wait up to three years.

Ric McIver and Thomas Lukaszuk, both cabinet ministers under former premier Alison Redford, have yet to spell out their policies on health care.

The leadership race was called after Redford resigned in March amid reports of lavish spending by her on herself and her inner circle.

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Alberta chambers share urban drilling concerns

June 6, 2014 By

By Lethbridge Herald on June 4, 2014.

Nick Kuhl
Lethbridge Herald
[email protected]
Other Alberta municipalities liked what Lethbridge brought to the table in regards to a resolution on urban drilling, as it was one of the local Chamber-sponsored measures passed during the Alberta Chamber of Commerce Provincial Conference and Policy Session in Fort McMurray last week.
All approved policy resolutions become the official policies of the Alberta Chambers of Commerce and are submitted to the Alberta Government for action.
“One of the initiatives we brought forward was our concerns about urban drilling and the ability to drill within a municipal boundary, or close to a municipality, and the concerns that our community had here,” said Bruce Galts, Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce president, who attended along with general manager Stephanie Jaffray and board member Ryan Miller.
“We asked for a moratorium on that, on urban drilling, and that that process be reviewed and some pretty important things be added to, or considered, in the process. It’s something we would like the provincial government to take a hard look at.”
It was passed unanimously.
“Everybody supported it and agreed that that process needs some re-examination,” Galts said. “Our position is we’re not sure why you would even consider it. There’s no real good reason, from a local municipality’s perspective, to have a drill in the way of the community’s ability to develop.”
The Lethbridge Chamber also had its resolution renewal on Grown-in-Canada Label: Marketing Alberta’s Livestock, which identifies products produced and grown here, supported and passed.
The local chamber’s attempt at a policy renewal for Equitable Energy Pricing for all Albertans, dealing with accountability of cost overruns with transmission lines, was not voted to pass, however.
Of the 43 resolutions debated, 40 were approved and three were defeated. The Lethbridge Chamber also co-sponsored two resolutions put forward by the Red Deer Chamber: “Promote Agribusiness Growth Opportunities by Reducing Barriers to Interprovincial and International Trade” and “The Future of Agriculture in Alberta: Regional Planning in the Alberta Land Stewardship Act.”

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NO PAPER TRAIL NIXING REDFORD’S ’SKY PALACE’ NDP CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION

June 6, 2014 By

Dean Bennett
THE CANADIAN PRESS — EDMONTON
Alberta’s NDP is asking the privacy commissioner to investigate why there is no paper trail for the cancellation of a penthouse suite that had been ordered by former premier Alison Redford.  Infrastructure critic Deron Bilous said Wednesday a freedom-of-information request on the so-called sky palace turned up nothing.  “There are no documents whatsoever,” Bilous said.  “So the question is: Are they refusing to produce these documents or are there no documents, in which case there is absolutely no paper trail on a project (for which) hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent.”  Privacy commissioner Jill Clayton is already investigating allegations that Redford’s government sought to interfere in freedom-of information requests to limit political fallout on controversial issues.  Redford resigned as premier in March amid controversy over opulent spending on herself and her inner circle.  Within days of her departure, it was revealed her office had intervened with the Infrastructure Department to make changes to the top floor of the Federal Building.  The building, a block north of the legislature, is being renovated to house politicians, political staff and civil servants. But in July 2012 Redford’s office ordered changes to the top floor to accommodate a “premier’s  suite” complete with changing and grooming areas, a fireplace, separate temperature controls, a butler’s pantry and dining and study areas.  Documents revealed $173,000 was spent on design and engineering plans that were ultimately never implemented.  Ric McIver, while serving as  infrastructure minister, said in March he cancelled the project in January because he thought it was an improper use of taxpayer dollars.  McIver left cabinet last month to run in the race to replace Redford as party leader and premier.  Deputy minister Marcia Nelson, the top civil servant in the Infrastructure Department, confirmed to an all-party committee last week that McIver cancelled the project.  Wayne Drysdale, who preceded McIver as infrastructure minister, has said he cancelled the project in December 2012.  Drysdale was reassigned to the post after McIver’s departure.  Premier Dave Hancock has disputed the characterization of the suite as a retreat for Redford only. He has told the legislature the concept was for it to be a kind of “hotel.”  McIver has said he believes some of the framing had already been done on the suite when he cancelled it.  But Nelson has said only some floor and duct work had been done, and that there were no additional construction costs charged to the abandoned penthouse.  Bilous said there should be some supporting documentation, given the nature and size of the project.  “That’s a real red flag (for) . . . this government that claims to be open and transparent yet has been the complete opposite from Day 1,” he said.  McIver did not immediately respond when asked for comment Wednesday.  Clayton is investigating a memo dispatched last November by then-deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk. It directed staff to get involved in freedom-of-information requests and to help devise strategies to respond to them.  Lukaszuk later said the directive was never implemented.  He, too, is now running to replace Redford.  The former premier’s suite is being redesigned for hosting and meeting rooms.

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