Mr. Hehr: Mr. Speaker, this government has undermined the authority of Public Accounts, disparaged the office of the Auditor General, and is now submitting its own 200-page report to the Electoral Boundaries Commission. 

Clearly, in the name of transparency and accountability it was inappropriate for the government to present a position when it has no reason to do so other than blatant political interference.

To the Premier: why did the government, which does not represent a constituency, submit a proposal to the Electoral Boundaries Commission?

Mr. Stelmach: Mr. Speaker, the Electoral Boundaries Commission is an arm’s-length commission, and all MLAs have an opportunity to present to the commission the views and the wishes of their constituents. In this particular case what had happened is that two members presented to the electoral commission the collated, collected presentations from what MLAs heard from their constituents in terms of some of the splitting of particular community leagues, et cetera, and that came forward yesterday.

Mr. Hehr: Well, Mr. Speaker, who decided the Deputy Premier should present a 200-page submission to the Electoral Boundaries Commission? Did this come from the Premier, one of the political ministers, or the Tory party executive? Who?

Mr. Horner: Well, Mr. Speaker, given that this is about something that I did last night, first of all, I want to say that I will not apologize to anyone about doing my job. There was a line in one of the documents that was submitted with the compilation of all of the MLA submissions that did say “Government,” and I apologize for that. My letter to the commission clearly indicated that this was a compilation of what our members had heard from their constituents. I also made it very clear in my opening comments that it was exactly that.

Mr. Hehr: Well, I thank the hon. Deputy Premier for that apology and recognition of his error.

I’d ask the Premier: why does this government continually attempt to undermine and disparage the institutions set up exclusively to ensure accountability, transparency, and democracy in our province?

Mr. Stelmach: Mr. Speaker, there was no interference, and there was no attempt by anyone on this side of the House to interfere with the decisions of the commission. You know, sometimes these allegations come from some members of the opposition. I note that there were a number of opposition members that made presentations, and I know that it was done on Legislative Assembly letterhead. It’s funny how we have a letter . . .

Mr. Horner: On my letterhead.

Mr. Stelmach: . . . on his letterhead, yet the opposition can use their own letterheads and that’s okay. That’s fine for them, but it’s not fine for this member.

Alberta Hansard, April 20, 2010

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