EDMONTON - Gary Mar, the province’s envoy in Asia, has been ordered to take a leave of absence without pay while an ethics investigation is conducted into a fundraiser he held last week.
The leave was ordered by Premier Alison Redford, who was Mar’s main rival in last year’s PC leadership race.
“It’s effective immediately,” said Jay O’Neill, spokesman for the premier. “We have contacted the ethics commissioner and asked him to look into this.”
The investigation will centre on a dinner that was took place March 1 at the Edmonton Petroleum Club. The fundraiser was held to help clear up a deficit remaining from Mar’s unsuccessful leadership campaign. According to financial statements released Friday, Mar spent almost $2.7 million on the race, winding up with a $262,000 deficit that he and his campaign team have been trying to pay off.
Tickets had to be purchased to attend the dinner, and a trip to Hong Kong was auctioned.
“The point is to have the ethics commissioner look at all aspects of the fundraiser,” O’Neill said. “The premier felt it was important to get that in his hands right away. He can take a look at it, how it was conducted, any concerns with Mr. Mar’s role in it, and we’ll see what he comes back with.”
The investigation’s timeline could range from a few days to much longer.
A government source suggested the problem may rest with an invitation used to promote the event, in that it featured Mar’s title as Alberta’s representative in Asia. Such an invitation could cross the line between government and party, potentially creating an impression that a taxpayer-funded position was being used to raise money for a leadership campaign, the source said.
Organizers apparently sent out a second invitation that removed any mention of Mar’s Hong Kong job.
“I understand there was a correction to that invitation, and then as I understand the dinner went forward,” PC party president Bill Smith said Friday evening.
“I just finished talking to our leader and she tells me the question was posed to her, ‘Is this appropriate for a civil servant, or an employee of the government to be utilizing their position for that?’ ”
Smith said he agrees with Redford’s actions.
“If it’s the case that he was using his position to do that, to raise funds for his campaign, then I am completely 100 per cent against that.”
Mar, who was a prominent cabinet minister under former premier Ralph Klein and also served as Alberta’s envoy in Washington, D.C., has been working at his new job in Asia for a few months.
The $265,000 post requires Mar to be based in Hong Kong, from where he oversees the province’s five other Asia offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul and Taiwan. The job is part political advocacy and part brand building for Alberta’s oil, timber, beef and other industries.
Mar has been in Alberta for at least the past week. Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, who supported Mar during the PC leadership campaign, said he knew nothing about the fundraiser but saw Mar walking through the legislature a few days ago.
Mar could not be reached for comment Friday.
Smith said leadership candidates were supposed to stop fundraising by Dec. 1 of last year, and to have submitted a list of all their donors by the end of February. Fundraising events at this point are a grey area, he acknowledged.
“We’re going to need to review these rules, especially in light of this,” Smith said. “It’s very concerning.”
There have been concerns in the past with prominent government members being accused of selling access to their offices, or using a government job to help generate money for a party leadership run.
Former premier Ed Stelmach became the subject of an ethics investigation shortly after winning the PC leadership race in 2006. In that case, as part of an effort to retire Stelmach’s campaign debt, Albertans were offered the chance to buy their way into a small “exclusive” reception with the premier for a minimum donation of $5,000.
Stelmach cancelled the event after public backlash, and was eventually cleared by the ethics commissioner.
“It’s effective immediately,” said Jay O’Neill, spokesman for the premier. “We have contacted the ethics commissioner and asked him to look into this.”
The investigation will centre on a dinner that was took place March 1 at the Edmonton Petroleum Club. The fundraiser was held to help clear up a deficit remaining from Mar’s unsuccessful leadership campaign. According to financial statements released Friday, Mar spent almost $2.7 million on the race, winding up with a $262,000 deficit that he and his campaign team have been trying to pay off.
Tickets had to be purchased to attend the dinner, and a trip to Hong Kong was auctioned.
“The point is to have the ethics commissioner look at all aspects of the fundraiser,” O’Neill said. “The premier felt it was important to get that in his hands right away. He can take a look at it, how it was conducted, any concerns with Mr. Mar’s role in it, and we’ll see what he comes back with.”
The investigation’s timeline could range from a few days to much longer.
A government source suggested the problem may rest with an invitation used to promote the event, in that it featured Mar’s title as Alberta’s representative in Asia. Such an invitation could cross the line between government and party, potentially creating an impression that a taxpayer-funded position was being used to raise money for a leadership campaign, the source said.
Organizers apparently sent out a second invitation that removed any mention of Mar’s Hong Kong job.
“I understand there was a correction to that invitation, and then as I understand the dinner went forward,” PC party president Bill Smith said Friday evening.
“I just finished talking to our leader and she tells me the question was posed to her, ‘Is this appropriate for a civil servant, or an employee of the government to be utilizing their position for that?’ ”
Smith said he agrees with Redford’s actions.
“If it’s the case that he was using his position to do that, to raise funds for his campaign, then I am completely 100 per cent against that.”
Mar, who was a prominent cabinet minister under former premier Ralph Klein and also served as Alberta’s envoy in Washington, D.C., has been working at his new job in Asia for a few months.
The $265,000 post requires Mar to be based in Hong Kong, from where he oversees the province’s five other Asia offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul and Taiwan. The job is part political advocacy and part brand building for Alberta’s oil, timber, beef and other industries.
Mar has been in Alberta for at least the past week. Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, who supported Mar during the PC leadership campaign, said he knew nothing about the fundraiser but saw Mar walking through the legislature a few days ago.
Mar could not be reached for comment Friday.
Smith said leadership candidates were supposed to stop fundraising by Dec. 1 of last year, and to have submitted a list of all their donors by the end of February. Fundraising events at this point are a grey area, he acknowledged.
“We’re going to need to review these rules, especially in light of this,” Smith said. “It’s very concerning.”
There have been concerns in the past with prominent government members being accused of selling access to their offices, or using a government job to help generate money for a party leadership run.
Former premier Ed Stelmach became the subject of an ethics investigation shortly after winning the PC leadership race in 2006. In that case, as part of an effort to retire Stelmach’s campaign debt, Albertans were offered the chance to buy their way into a small “exclusive” reception with the premier for a minimum donation of $5,000.
Stelmach cancelled the event after public backlash, and was eventually cleared by the ethics commissioner.
No comments:
Post a Comment