Ex-alberta premier took daughter on dozens of work trips

The Alberta government’s fleet of aircraft came under renewed scrutiny Monday after new revelations showed former premier Alison Redford took her daughter on dozens of flights during her time in office, including a long weekend in Jasper during the height of flood recovery last year in southern Alberta.

The province’s travel and expenses database shows Redford and her former executive assistant, Brad Stables, billed taxpayers $1,406 for two rooms at the luxury Jasper Park Lodge, but the purpose of the long weekend trip remains unclear.

Premier Dave Hancock said it’s inappropriate to assume the flight to Jasper was a personal trip, but offered up no evidence to suggest otherwise. “The reality is that I don’t know the intricate details of every day. I know that people are flying and … typically there would be government business on the schedule,” Hancock said.

The flight manifests show a flight carrying Redford, Stables and Redford’s daughter, along with two other people, flew to Hinton from Calgary on June 28. The plane then returned to Edmonton empty and flew back — empty again — to pick up the group from Hinton and for a return flight to Calgary.

“The reality is that I don’t know the intricate details

of every day.” PREMIER DAVE HANCOCK

It’s also unclear whether Redford was on government business for each of the dozens of other trips on which her daughter accompanied her, but the majority of flight manifest entries list the reason for travel as “attend meeting with government official” or to “attend news conference or event.”

A request for comment from Redford was not returned.

Finance Minister Doug Horner, who is responsible for the fleet, said the government’s policy gives ministers discretion for their guests.

At least one of the flights that included Redford and her daughter also included association minister Sandra Jansen and her daughter. Jansen defended the travel during question period on Monday.

“As I understand it, the flight policy implemented in 2010 indicates that passengers approved for government flights are at the discretion of the minister responsible,” Jansen said. “It didn’t cost a dime extra for my daughter to travel on that flight. If it did, I would happily pay the money back.”

The Official Opposition Wildrose called on the province to sell its fleet of four taxpayer-funded planes, which cost the province roughly $7 million annually.

Both the NDP and Liberals agreed the fleet should be sold.