CALGARY – The Alberta government is under the microscope again for the use of their aircraft.
The province has three Beechcraft King Air planes which they can use to travel, but questions have been raised about some of the flights shown on publicly posted flight manifests.
It’s alleged there are seven times when Premier Alison Redford used a government plane when another taxpayer-funded aircraft flew the same route only a short time later.
On another three occasions, the province is accused of using two planes to travel to Calgary; one landing at the Calgary International Airport and the other landing at the Springbank airport, just 35 kilometers away.
For example, on August 20, 2013 the premier flew from Edmonton to the Springbank airport near Calgary on a plane with two other staff members.
About two minutes before her aircraft took off, another plane with her communications director Stefan Baranski left with two other staff members, landing at the Calgary International Airport.
It’s not clear why they couldn’t have flown on the same aircraft, as they were all headed to Calgary.
The Wildrose party brought forward another manifest that shows that the premier and several Conservative party members used a government plane to attend a PC fundraiser.
Premier Redford flew to Grande Prairie in October 2012. According to the flight manifest, she arrived at 4:32 in the afternoon then attended a fundraiser at 5:30 that same evening.
Health minister Fred Horne, who was on the same flight, defended the trip in question period Tuesday.
He says the flight coincided with an announcement regarding the expansion of the Grande Prairie hospital.
Earlier this month, Redford announced she is grounding the government aircraft fleet from flying out of province until the auditor general completes a review, to ensure the public can have full confidence about how the government uses the planes.
She has been heavily criticized for billing taxpayers $45,000 to attend the funeral for former South African leader Nelson Mandela in December.
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