Danielle Smith: unbelievable explanations of grossly bad ideas

On August 1, with minimal announcement, the Alberta government enacted new rules ending public disclosure requirements for the Premier, for Cabinet ministers, for deputy ministers, and for all their staff, all of whom were no longer required to publicly post receipts for their expenses over $100. Also, the UCP removed from public view eight years of expenses receipts.

By August 21, after receiving significant criticism, Ms. Smith and her government reversed the August 1 changes. Their secretive, opaque policy on publicizing expenses was objectionable because taxpayers have a right to know, but what was worse and unbelievable was her sad, sorry explanation of how the little-publicized changes came about. She told us she was unaware of the August 1 changes, and that they happened because “something got lost in translation.”

What? Translation from what? To what? How could she be unaware of the changes if she knows that “something got lost in translation”? Her evasive denial of responsibility is an insult to Albertans because of its evasiveness and because of its simple unbelievability.

We have seen Ms. Smith’s floundering and unbelievable denial tactics before. About two and one-half years ago she and the UCP were heavily criticized for a blatantly foolish part of her Sovereignty Act. That part was going to overrule court decisions, then, it wasn’t, then she and her cabinet could re-write Alberta laws with no involvement of the legislature, then that wholly undemocratic provision was removed, but, when asked about that provision, she told Albertans that she “didn’t know how that got there.”

Neither Ms. Smith nor the UCP have any sense of shame, for if they had such sense, they would never attempt such folly. Also, stay tuned because in the coming months, Ms. Smith will be offering another unbelievable explanation of why you must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle with the international coal companies to whom the UCP disgustingly gave away our Grassy Mountain and our Eastern Slopes.

Gregory R. Côté, Irvine