This editorial in the Medicine Hat News has exposed this scandal to further scrutiny by the public, opposition politicians, regulatory agencies, police and auditors. The scope of wrongdoing by the PC regime seems to have expanded. Various people have some answers to provide.
What have the accountable executives of Alberta Government Air Services got to say? As "accountable executives" they are just that - accountable! They are responsible for ensuring that their air operation operates legally and in full compliance with all laws and regulations, apart from any safety aspects. Was nobody minding the shop?
Where was the Transport Canada regulatory oversight? Again, was nobody minding the shop? The refusal of Transport Canada Civil Aviation to answer whether it is looking into the Alberta situation looks suspicious. Is something being covered up?
If the subject flights were illegal or had an element of illegality did that by extension invalidate the operator's insurance?
Who actually accepted the payments? After all the kerfuffle about wrongdoing and misuse of public assets - which after all is what the original fuss was about and why the refund payments were made - one would expect all parties involved, especially Progressive Conservative Party politicians and bureaucrats, to check carefully beforehand to ensure that all their subsequent actions were both legal and ethical.
Flights of fancy dog Alberta Tories ? Medicine Hat News
Flights of fancy dog Alberta Tories
BY MEDICINE HAT NEWS OPINION ON AUGUST 22, 2014.
Personal flights in Alberta government aircraft for which revenue is collected appears to contravene Alberta’s air transport license issued by Transport Canada.
“The Government of Alberta is registered as a Private Air Operator,” said a spokesperson for Transport Canada this week. “A Registered Private Operator is authorized to transport non-revenue passengers and goods. A Private Operator cannot operate for hire and reward.”
We already know revenue has been collected for a number of Alberta government flights — not initially but when the personal use of government aircraft was exposed in the media.
In the Auditor General Merwan Saher’s report, made public at the beginning of the month, there is confirmation former premier Alison Redford paid back $14,992 for the government aircraft charter she took to and from Ottawa when travelling to South Africa for the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. Another $1,532 was paid for travel by her daughter and her daughter’s friends, and $1,624 for a charter to Vancouver to attend a family funeral.
That would make those technically “revenue flights.”
The PC party has also agreed to reimburse government for charters that were for partisan purposes, where elected officials made use of the government aircraft charter to attend a PC party event.
“Transport Canada requires private air operators to register with the department and comply with the Canadian Aviation Regulations,” said a spokesperson for Transport Canada.
Whether Transport Canada is looking into the Alberta situation is not known.
Transport Canada has refused to answer that question.
So the very thing that was meant to kill all controversy about private use of government aircraft, just pay the money back and be done with it, could be tipping the scales in the direction of contravening Transport Canada’s regulations.
This week the government announced it will pay more attention to the appropriate use of the government fleet.
“Each of us knows the rules and it is up to each of us to make sure that we are adhering to those rules at all times — whether we’re taking planes we’re talking travel expenses or anything,” said Premier Dave Hancock.
The problem is Albertans thought they could rely on elected officials to do just that and then discovered they could not.
Talk is cheap at this point, believing and seeing is all together different, especially when it looks as though Transport Canada’s air operators license conditions have been contravened.
Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to
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