B.C. official to look again at Redford tobacco case
British Columbia’s conflict of interest commissioner Paul Fraser will investigate the actions of former Alberta premier Alison Redford involving the province’s lawsuit against big tobacco companies.
Questions of potential conflict stem from 2010, when Redford appointed a legal consortium, including a law firm her ex-husband works at, as counsel in a $10-billion lawsuit Alberta was launching against tobacco companies to cover health-related costs.
Redford was cleared by then-ethics commissioner Neil Wilkinson when the matter was investigated in 2013, but a report this spring former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci cited concerns that Wilkinson didn’t have all the relevant information. He recommended Alberta’s ethics commissioner take another look.
However, there is a potential conflict for the ethics commissioner, so the matter was turned over to Fraser.
A letter Fraser wrote to Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley on Wednesday concluded an investigation is warranted.
In that letter, Fraser said his decision to look into the matter again shouldn’t be interpreted as a finding on Redford’s conduct, adding the investigation would be subject to the same key principles as the first one.
“My decision to re-investigate, where new information that warrants further inquiry has been revealed, will give the public the comfort that the integrity of the assembly is preserved,” he wrote.
The official Opposition went a step farther Thursday, saying the probe should be conducted alongside an RCMP investigation.
Wildrose ethics and accountability critic Jason Nixon said that “sunshine is the best disinfectant,” and an investigation will “give Albertans the transparency they deserve from their government.”
There is no set time for the investigation to be concluded.