PREMIER DEFENDS HIS WORK ETHIC, COSTA RICA VISITS

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says he doesn’t have to explain his work habits or reveal how he communicates with staff while at his vacation home in Costa Rica. “I work harder than any premier that’s been around here for a long, long time. I don’t have to defend my work ethic to you or anyone else,” Pallister, pictured, said following question period Wednesday. “I’m in touch virtually every day.” Pallister said in December he planned to spend between six and eight weeks a year at his vacation home. He later revised the estimate to five weeks. NDP justice critic Andrew Swan has accused Pallister of being disconnected from work, because documents obtained through Manitoba’s freedom-of-information law show no records of phone calls between Pallister and senior staff during his last four trips to Costa Rica.