Another spending controversy for the Redford government
Posted Feb 20, 2014 7:29 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Wildrose critic Rob Anderson says word that the Premier’s executive assistant is billing Alberta Taxpayers more than $200 a night to stay at one of Edmonton’s ritziest hotels reflects the government’s mindset.
Travel receipts posted online indicate that Brad Stables has billed the province more than $9,000 to stay 41 nights at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, since he assumed the job last spring.
Redford has been under fire from critics and even from a member of her own caucus for lavish spending, including $45,000 to fly her and Stables to Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December.
A spokesperson for the Premier says the hotel deal is value for money, given the fact that Stables lives in Calgary and that the province has a cut-rate deal with the hotel.
Derek Fildebrandt with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says he’s not surprised, adding the Premier’s free spending ways will continue to be attacked until she starts to rein things in.
Fildebrandt says he can’t believe the government is asking front line workers to accept a two year wage freeze, yet shows no sign of adhering to the message attached to every government release: “living within its means.”
