In opposition, the NDP clamoured for government transparency and accountability. But that was then. Now, as the ruling party, they don’t seem as keen on it — even, oddly enough, when it concerns the egregious abuse of public resources that occurred under the previous government.
A case in point was Wednesday’s Public Accounts committee, policed by NDP MLA and acting chair Heather Sweet.
The committee meeting was the first time MLAs could ask questions about the abuse of public resources by former premier Alison Redford, detailed in a special report by Auditor General Merwan Saher.
“Wildrose MLA Drew Barnes criticized the NDP for “stonewalling” his questions to senior civil servants about the abuse of public resources by former premier Alison Redford and her staff.” (CBC)
Saher’s August 2014 report confirmed Redford secretly ordered a private penthouse — dubbed the “Skypalace” — to be built on the top floor of the provincially-owned Federal Building.
His report confirmed she derived a benefit by taking her daughter on government flights.
And it also exposed the bizarre scheme in which fake passengers were booked on government flights so that the premier could fly alone with a chosen entourage.
The auditor general established what happened under Redford’s direction, but the questions of exactly how and why it was allowed to happen have never been answered.
Saher referenced an “aura of power,” emanating from the former premier’s office, which somehow prompted senior civil servants to allow the circumvention of existing rules designed to prevent such abuses of public resources.
Direct knowledge of Skypalace
On Wednesday, sitting directly opposite Sweet and Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt were two senior civil servants who had direct knowledge of the how and why behind Redford’s now-infamous Skypalace.
Marcia Nelson and Ray Gilmour were both infrastructure deputy ministers in the Redford government and still hold senior positions under the NDP. Nelson is now an associate deputy minister of Executive Council and Gilmour is deputy minister of Treasury Board and Finance.
Documents obtained through freedom of information by CBC News — and reported in May 2014 — show both Nelson and Gilmour were involved in coordinating plans for Redford’s penthouse suite as it was being built.
“I can confirm that maintenance of the Premier’s Suite (11th Floor) and the maintenance of the 10th Floor, will be done in-house and the costs will be handled through Infrastructure,” Nelson wrote in an Oct. 11, 2013 email released to CBC News through freedom of information.
An April 2013 email details how Gilmour was apparently responsible for determining whether the maintenance costs for Redford’s apartment could be kept “in house” and whether the former premier could get from the building’s basement to her penthouse suite in private.
To opposition politicians and many in the public, Skypalace exemplifies the sense of entitlement of Redford and her party.
At a time when the government was facing a significant deficit, this private penthouse for the premier was built at a cost to taxpayers of at least $2.7 million – yet its existence was carefully hidden from public scrutiny.
Questions ‘out of order’
And so obviously, Fildebrandt and his Wildrose colleague Drew Barnes were eager to question Nelson and Gilmour about how this came to happen; why it was allowed; why no one questioned its appropriateness.
These would be exactly the same questions the public, who paid for Skypalace, would have.
“Alberta Auditor General Merwan Saher told a committee public servants have a duty to resist improper orders from politicians and their staff.” (CBC)
But from the moment Fildebrandt launched into his first line of questioning, it was clear Sweet wasn’t going to allow these sorts of questions.
“Mr. Fildebrandt, I’m just going to caution you on the line of questioning that we’re sticking to the report and not making assumptions and putting our public servants on the spot to have to address certain situations,” Sweet said.
The Wildrose MLAs persisted even as Sweet continued to run interference.
She characterized the questions as “bullying” and a “witch hunt,” and insisted it was “not valid” to refer to individuals not specifically named in Saher’s report (Nelson and Gilmour were named in the report, as it turns out).
It was a pointless exercise anyway because Nelson and Gilmour simply refused to directly answer any questions about their involvement in Skypalace while in their previous positions.
Meanwhile, Sweet allowed NDP committee members to ask questions designed to score political points against PC MLA Wayne Drysdale and other former Tory MLAs for their partisan use of government aircraft.
In a scrum outside the committee meeting, Barnes criticized the “stonewalling” by the NDP. He said public servants had a duty to protect taxpayer’s money and provide proper oversight.
The next day, Sweet extended an invitation for an interview to CBC News, the purpose of which soon became clear.
“Instead of talking about the real issue, which was the direction from the PCs, (the Wildrose) chose to go after public servants,” she said. “That is extremely shameful because it is the PC premier and the PC caucus that made these decisions, not the public servants.”
But that seemed to be the only talking point Sweet had prepared. She couldn’t answer the list of questions we had prepared for her, except to repeat the same talking point.
Which policy, specifically, barred MLAs from asking those sorts of questions of senior civil servants? Sweet didn’t know, and finally conceded that to her, it was simply a matter of “decorum.”
Bureaucrats must resist improper orders
Sweet repeatedly insisted Saher’s report had exonerated the civil servants and that it was improper to question them in public. But Saher told the committee civil servants should resist following orders that are not in the public interest.
“Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt believed he had a right to ask senior civil servants at a committee meeting why they allowed the circumvention of policies meant to stop abuse of public resources.” (CBC)
“I think the biggest lesson would be that any member of the public service, it doesn’t really matter what your rank or place is, has a fundamental duty to do something about anything that you believe is not correct,” Saher said.
“There is no expectation that you follow through and do things that you don’t believe are the right thing to do. I think that is the biggest lesson. I think there are ways in which one can deal with being in a situation of that nature.
“There are, perhaps, individuals in other ministries, other departments, that you can consult for advice. There are two offices of the Legislature who exist and could play a useful part in this.”
The two offices of the Legislature to which Saher was referring are his own, and that of the Public Interest Commissioner.
Sweet acknowledged the existence of Alberta’s so-called whistleblower act, which falls under the purview of the Public Interest Commissioner. Under the act, a civil servant is supposed to report wrongdoing to their deputy minister.
Nelson and Gilmour were deputy ministers during the construction of Skypalace. We asked Sweet what sort of message has been sent to civil servants by the fact that these two deputy ministers did not reach out to the Public Interest Commissioner.
“I think again the clear message here is that the PC premier and the PC caucus directed public servants to have to do things,” Sweet said, falling back again on that one talking point.
“And it’s not fair to hold the public servants accountable for direct decisions that were made by the PC premier and the PC caucus.”
Sweet said there are regulations in place that would not allow this to happen again. Except, as was pointed out in the committee meeting, there were policies in place then, which were circumvented. That was the point of Saher’s report.
We asked Sweet how the public is to be assured this won’t happen again; that the NDP won’t ask senior civil servants to circumvent rules just as the Tories did.
“It is not going to happen again because you don’t have the same entitlement that you had under the PC premier and the PC government,” Sweet said. “You have a new government.”
In other words, trust us and don’t ask questions.
