The MLA Don Scott, who represents the Fort McMurray-Conklin area, has been under some criticism for his traveling expenses by the opposition. Scott’s fiscal history has been under increased scrutiny after a 2013 Poland trip costing $24,100 was made public. Service Alberta disclosed that Scott was in Warsaw Poland on September 25 and September 26 of 2013. The MLA was attending an International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners as the accountability, transparency, and transformation associate minister. The politician left on September 18, and traveled to London first. This trip was paid for by Scott according to his itinerary at the time. The travel expenses are being criticized by many people, including Brian Jean who stated “Only in Alberta could the minister of accountability think it is proper to book ultra-elite, first-class tickets to Europe for himself and his assistant. I couldn’t imagine spending $8,700 on a flight to Europe.”

Brian Jean is not the only one critical of the travel expenses of MLA Don Scott. Ariana Mancini, NDP candidate, called into question whether the trip was even necessary in the first place and said “The PC Party claims to be responsible fiscal stewards, but we see misuse of public dollars so frequently. His peers from the other provinces were not so careless. Even well-meaning people like Mr. Scott can be led astray by the culture of corruption that has rotted the PC Party to the core.” Scott has defended his expenses by saying “It represents the only overseas trip I’ve taken as a minister and I followed Alberta’s guidelines for overseas travel. I went to help find the best practices to implement in Alberta, which the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation already praises as the gold standard in Canada.”