Health Minister Stephen Mandel says he is willing to pay back a political donation to the Alberta PC party, following accusations from the Wildrose Party that he improperly used taxpayer money to attend a fundraiser while he was mayor of Edmonton.
On Tuesday morning, the Wildrose Party posted a statement saying then-mayor Mandel expensed a $225 joint fundraiser held for the Edmonton-Glenora/Edmonton-Riverview PCs in February 2010.
Later in the day, Mandel said he would pay back the money if it was determined that an error had been made.
“If I did that, I don’t know. I tried to be careful of my expenses over the nine years I was mayor so if there was any errors, we apologize for it and we’ll correct it,” Mandel told reporters when asked about the accusation Tuesday.
The Wildrose also alleges Mandel accepted a campaign donation from the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, a facility run by Alberta Health Services, a few months later.
“Both transactions violate Alberta elections laws,” said the party in its statement.
“Mandel’s contribution to the PCs violates the Elections Finances and Contributions Disclosures Act. AHS donating to Mandel’s mayoral campaign violates the Local Authorities Elections Act.”
Wildrose MLA Kerry Towle says Mandel should pay back the full amount he paid out in 2010, allegedly using taxpayers’ dollars. (CBC)
Towle says the expensed donation did not show up the Elections Alberta list of illegal donations for the year, which she says raises questions about whether the information was deliberately withheld.
Towle called for Mandel to reimburse both donations.
AHS denies improper donation
Meanwhile, Kerry Williamson with AHS said the donation attributed to his organization actually came from an individual employee who worked at the Mazankowski Institute.
“AHS is a politically neutral organization and does not support or endorse any political party or candidate at any level of government,” he said.
“This donation was not made by AHS. This was a private donation incorrectly attributed to one of our hospitals. We have been working with the City of Edmonton to correct this inaccuracy.”
