Premier puts envoy on unpaid leave

Leadership rival Mar under ethics cloud

Gary Mar, the province’s envoy in Asia, has been ordered to take a leave of absence without pay while an ethics investigation is conducted into a fundraiser he held last week.

The leave was ordered by Premier Alison Redford, who was Mar’s main rival in last year’s PC leadership race.

“It’s effective immediately,” said Jay O’neill, spokesman for the premier. “We have contacted the ethics commissioner and asked him to look into this.”

The investigation will centre on a dinner that took place March 1 at the Edmonton Petroleum Club. The fundraiser was held to help clear up a deficit remaining from Mar’s unsuccessful leadership campaign.

According to financial statements released Friday, Mar spent almost $2.7 million on the race, winding up with a $262,000 deficit that he and his campaign team have been trying to pay o .

Tickets had to be purchased to attend the dinner, and a trip to Hong Kong was auctioned.

“The point is to have the ethics commissioner look at all aspects of the fundraiser,” O’neill said. “The premier felt it was important to get that in his hands right away. He can take a look at it, how it was conducted, any concerns with Mr. Mar’s role in it, and we’ll see what he comes back with.”

The investigation’s timeline could range from a few days to much longer.

A government source suggested the problem may rest with an invitation used to promote the event, in that it featured Mar’s title as Alberta’s representative in Asia.

Such an invitation could cross the line between government and party, potentially creating an impression that a taxpayer-funded position was being used to raise money for a leadership campaign, the source said.

Organizers apparently sent out a second invitation that removed any mention of Mar’s Hong Kong job.

“I understand there was a correction to that invitation, and then as I understand the dinner went forward,” PC party president Bill Smith said Friday evening.

“I just finished talking to our leader and she tells me the question was posed to her: ‘Is this appropriate for a civil servant or an employee of the government to be utilizing their position for that?’ ”

Smith said he agrees with Redford’s actions.

“If it’s the case that he was using his position to do that, to raise funds for his campaign, then I am completely 100-per-cent against that.”

Mar, who was a prominent cabinet minister under former premier Ralph Klein and also served as Alberta’s envoy in Washington, D.C., has been working at his new job in Asia for a few months.

The $265,000 per year post requires Mar to be based in Hong Kong, where he oversees the province’s five other Asia offices.

The job is part political advocacy and part brand building for Alberta’s industries.

Mar has been in Alberta for at least the past week. Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, who supported Mar during the PC leadership campaign, said he knew nothing about the fundraiser but saw Mar walking through the legislature a few days ago.

Mar could not be reached for comment Friday.

O’neill said Redford first heard about the fundraiser from Global TV late Friday afternoon.

The premier said she was “really disappointed” by the turn of events.

“I’d like some more information. I’m very concerned about this. I don’t think it’s appropriate,” said Redford.

Liberal Leader Raj Sherman said Redford bears responsibility for the situation because of her appointment of Mar to the envoy post with no open competition.

“It was a mistake by her to appoint any political people remotely close to the leadership race or any close friend or financial donors. This premier does not have the sense,” he said.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said Mar’s fundraiser was improper, since he was appointed by Redford to a taxpayer-funded job to represent Alberta abroad.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that before ... There are multiple levels on which this is wrong. If he wanted to hold a fundraiser to clear his debt, it should have been completely disconnected from his role as a representative of the government,” Smith said.

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