A cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative Party recently defended accepting a gift from a lobbyist “friend.” He stated, “I think it is very appropriate for me to accept a minor thing from a friend from time to time ...”
For a businessman, the concept of gifting to corporate clients has a single purpose — to gain influence and access and/or show appreciation for past actions. It stands to reason that gifting to politicians works the same as gifting in the corporate world. The fact that this gift was trivialized as a minor thing is an issue, considering that this friend works for AltaLink.
It is easy to make more friend connections here considering that the friendly voice of the senior vice-president of AltaLink on the radio commercials is also listed as Calgary’s vice-president of the Progressive Conservative Party Executive Committee. AltaLink is the principal beneficiary of over $16 billion in new transmission infrastructure endorsed by — wait for it — the provincial cabinet. Cabinet approved this massive expenditure without public or regulatory oversight. This was made possible by our PC government introducing and unanimously approving Bill 50, which deems these projects critical and therefore exempt from any regulatory or public oversight and scrutiny. In other words, they moved this complicated, technical decision from experts, employed by the provincial regulator, to the backrooms of the cabinet. Cabinet is given power to approve these so-called critical projects, regardless of whether or not Albertans need them, and regardless of whether or not the projects are in the best interests of Alberta.
Prior to the approval of Bill 50, a number of legitimate and reputable groups came forth and publicly spoke out against Bill 50. They included the University of Calgary, the Fraser Institute, ENMAX and the industrial consumer group Industrial Power Consumers Association of Alberta (IPCAA). These groups argued and provided compelling evidence that there were better, cheaper and more effective alternatives to these so-called critical projects. They argued that to build them would create dramatic costs, which could very well permanently damage our economy and drive jobs and industry away from our province.
Given the fierce opposition and the potential risks to our economy, one would have expected a reasonable and measured response by our government to postpone the approval of Bill 50. Also, one would have expected the government to reserve decision on transmission projects pending the resolution of concerns by the very consumers who will be forced to pay for them. The Ed Stelmach government did neither. Members of the PC party need to be reminded who they serve. By voting unanimously for Bill 50, they seemingly listened only to their friends representing transmission giants such as AltaLink. Sixteen billion dollars is a huge wealth transfer out of Albertans’ pockets without proper scrutiny.
Bill 50 needs to be voided. Our elected representatives should be mindful that the only truly acceptable gift is the gift of service to the people of Alberta who entrusted them to serve their best interests and the best interests of this province.
Dorothy Pino, St. Albert
