Province foot-dragging on disclosure, Wildrose says

The Opposition Wildrose on Tuesday accused the NDP of dragging its feet on a government directive that requires sole-sourced contracts be publicly disclosed.

Last November, former premier Jim Prentice introduced the Treasury Board directive requiring the government publicly report all solesourced contracts up to $75,000 on a quarterly basis.

The directive restricts when the province can sign single-sourced contracts for services between $10,000 and $75,000 and requires any untendered deals be released publicly.

The move was to ensure the province wasn’t handing out non-competitive contracts to government insiders and businesses connected to the Progressive Conservative party.

The directive took effect on April 1, but five months later the province has failed to release a single contract, Wildrose accountability critic Jason Nixon said.

“Without this information disclosed, Albertans have no idea how this money is spent,” Nixon said in a statement.

Cheryl Oates, a spokeswoman for the premier’s office, said in an email the government is working to release the information as soon as possible.

All government departments submitted contracts for the first quarter — April through June — to Service Alberta, which is compiling the documents and reviewing them to ensure accuracy, Oates said.

The contracts will be posted within two weeks, she added.

“We anticipate normally reporting approximately six weeks following the end of a quarter going forward,” she said.

Nixon noted Premier Rachel Notley supported the directive while she was in opposition and called for it to be enshrined in legislation.

“It’s time we get this information disclosed and beef up the legislation,” Nixon said.

Oates said the province will look into potential legislation but wants to first examine the effectiveness of the Treasury Board directive.

“It’s time we get this information disclosed and beef up the legislation.” WILDROSE ACCOUNTABILITY CRITIC JASON NIXON