Minister says he won’t take action on Magliocca expenses

Alberta’s municipal affairs minister repeated Friday that he doesn’t plan to intervene after a forensic audit of Coun. Joe Magliocca’s spending showed more than $5,600 in inappropriate expenses.

The RCMP confirmed this week that they will investigate the expenses after the Calgary Police Service asked them to take the file.

City council voted last month to send the report to police and Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu, and Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Thursday that he doesn’t agree with previous statements from Madu’s press secretary that he doesn’t have the authority under provincial laws to step in.

“The minister of municipal affairs loves to talk about how he’s the boss of the city and he has powers. Well, if you’re ever going to use those powers, how about using them in an opportunity where there’s been a significant breach of our code of conduct,” Nenshi said.

In a statement Friday, Madu said he thinks it’s up to Calgary city council to fix its own expense process “and move on.”

“Calgary needs to take some responsibility, tighten up its internal spending rules and do a better job at protecting taxpayer dollars — it’s as simple as that,” he said.

“I get calls every day to fire various folks for various reason, including the Mayor of Calgary — but as Mayor Nenshi himself has said about this situation, ‘voters are the arbiters of this,’” Madu said.

Both the investigation of Magliocca’s spending and a separate audit of the rest of council’s expenses have identified issues with the expense process, and a city working group is already moving to solve them by the end of 2020.

Council called for the external audit of Magliocca’s expenses after Postmedia reports revealed the Ward 2 councillor expensed significantly more than his colleagues at the 2019 Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and 10 people he listed on receipts for meals and drinks during the Quebec City conference said or confirmed through spokespeople they never dined with him.

Magliocca has voluntarily repaid $6,220.66 to the city so far.

The municipal affairs minister has the power to dismiss an elected city councillor under certain circumstances, something neither city officials nor the mayor can do.

However, the minister can take that step only after launching an inquiry to determine whether there was “improper, irregular or improvident” management within the municipality.

According to Alberta’s Municipal Government Act, if issues are found, the minister can direct city council “to take any action that the Minister considers proper in the circumstances.”

If that action doesn’t adequately address the problem, the minister has the authority to take several further steps, including “an order dismissing the council or any member of it.”

Magliocca has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Postmedia since the results of the audit were released.