Former Alberta premier Alison Redford and her office used public resources in ways that were "not proper, not right," the province's auditor general said.
Speaking at a press conference Thursday afternoon, Auditor General Merwan Saher elaborated on a he had released earlier in the day, which outlined the use of public resources by Redford and her office.
"The overall conclusion is that (former) premier Redford and her office used public resources inappropriately," he said. "What does inappropriate mean?...In simple language: not proper, not right."
In his report, Saher found that Redford and her office "consistently failed" to demonstrate the necessity of travel expenses and used government aircraft for "personal and partisan purposes."
The report has been forwarded to the RCMP for "their review and any investigation they feel appropriate," Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said Thursday in a statement.
Shortly after the report was released, interim Premier Dave Hancock said the Progressive Conservative Party will reimburse the government for the cost of the flights deemed to have been used primarily for partisan purposes.
In a news release Thursday, Saher said 鈥渢he aura of power around Premier Redford and her office and the perception that the influence of the office should not be questioned鈥� is to blame for the inappropriate spending of taxpayer dollars.
鈥淲e observed a tendency to work around or ignore rules in order to fulfill requests coming from the premier鈥檚 office in ways that avoided leaving the premier with personal responsibility for decisions,鈥� he said.
鈥淎ll of the failings might have been prevented or detected earlier with oversight designed to provide substantive challenge.鈥�
, Saher said he had a sense that people working in Redford's office felt "trapped."
"Others who had to interact with the premier and her office, I think they felt in some way鈥� trapped in this," he said, explaining that some in the office likely felt that the premier should be afforded "certain courtesies."
Use of government aircraft
The audit found examples of Redford travelling on government aircraft with her daughter and her daughter鈥檚 friends. On some occasions, Redford鈥檚 daughter flew on the plane alone.
Shortly before resigning as premier, Redford admitted to flying her daughter and her daughter's friend on a handful of flights and paid back the equivalent airfares.
The audit also discovered a practice of 鈥渂lock booking鈥� government aircraft to make it seem like the plane was full, preventing other passengers from taking the same flight.
Assistant Auditor General Brad Ireland conducted interviews with Redford and her office staff while helping to draft the report.
He said that when he asked why government aircraft was used as opposed to booking a ticket on a commercial flight for a specific journey, he was usually told that Redford did not specifically request a government plane.
"I took that response to mean that others in the office requested the government plane," he said.
When asked by a reporter if Redford ever took responsibility for any of the "misjudgements" outlined in the auditor general's report, Ireland said she didn鈥檛.
Redford resigned her premiership in March amidst growing controversy over her travel expenses, a plummeting approval rating and turmoil within the PC party.
A $45,000 taxpayer-funded trip to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's funeral caused public furor and led to a series of revelations over Redford's travel expenses. She eventually paid back the money spent travelling to the December funeral.
The auditor general鈥檚 report was released one day after Redford resigned her seat as Calgary-Elbow MLA and Hancock said he would call on the RCMP to investigate the use of government aircraft.
AG recommends more oversight
Saher made several recommendations in his report, including oversight of premier鈥檚 office expenses and use of government aircraft and clearer policies surrounding use of government aircraft.
His report made the following conclusions about Redford鈥檚 expenses:
- Use of discretion was not documented
- There was a lack of spending parameters and clear guidelines
- Lack of personal responsibility for expenses
- There was poor oversight of office expenses
鈥淣o public servant, not even a premier, should be excused from vigilant oversight of their compliance with policies and processes designed both to protect the public interest and themselves from bad judgment,鈥� the report said.
However, Saher noted that 鈥渋t would be wrong for anyone to extrapolate our findings and conclusions to the public service of Alberta as a whole.鈥�
