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Alberta Politics

Cancelled: Alison Redford’s expensive Afghanistan photo-op

Alison Redford Alberta Kabul Afghanistan
Premier Alison Redford cancelled a secretly planned trip to Kabul, Afghanistan this week.

Albertans discovered this week that Premier Alison Redford cancelled a secretly planned trip to war-torn Afghanistan after suicide bomber blew herself up in a Kabul restaurant , killing twenty-one people, including two Canadians.

Ms. Redford was leading a trade mission through India last week and had secretly planned to stop in the Afghan capital before jetting off to a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

The secrecy of the trip is understandable. Afghanistan is a dangerous place and Ms. Redford and her entourage could have become an appealing target for an attack.

But what business does an Alberta premier have travelling to a dangerous country like Afghanistan?

The official reasons for the trip reportedly released by Ms. Redford’s office were to pay a visit Canadian Forces stationed in Kabul and observe humanitarian projects that the Alberta government is supporting in the country.

It is hard not to see this side-trip as anything more than an expensive publicity stunt for a provincial politician who loves to be seen on international stage. If the trip hadn’t been cancelled, photos of the premier with the troops and with humanitarian workers would have been prominently featured all over the government website, Ms. Redford’s Facebook page and in future Progressive Conservative Party election ads.

It is unusual for a provincial leader to make this kind of appearance and it adds to the growing feeling that Ms. Redford is more comfortable playing prime minister than she is actually being the premier.

It is unclear how much the trip to Afghanistan would have cost Albertans. Considering the risks associated with such a trip, the security costs may not have been insignificant.

She may hold aspirations to soon return to the international stage (she used to work for the United Nations), but as a provincial premier, Ms. Redford has no business visiting Afghanistan.

Categories
Alberta Politics

Redford Tories big international travellers in January 2014

Alberta MLA Travel
Since November 2011, Alberta’s cabinet ministers and government MLAs have travelled to 24 countries on official government business. By the end of January 2014, it will be 26.

Alberta’s Progressive Conservative MLAs are kicking off another year of international travel as Premier Alison Redford, cabinet ministers and backbenchers check their luggage and rack up the air mile points with flights touching down at all points across the globe.

Departing on January 9, Ms. Redford will circle the globe on a sixteen day trip that will see her visit New Dehli, Mumbai and Bangalore, India and then to Davos, Switzerland to promote Alberta’s oil. She will be joined at the beginning of her trip by Intergovernmental Affairs minister Cal Dallas, Human Services minister Manmeet Bhullar and Edmonton-Ellerslie MLA Naresh Bhardwaj at the Petrotech 2014 conference.

Mr. Bhullar and Mr. Bhardwaj will join Ms. Redford for her trip to India (Update: No public itinerary has been released for Mr. Bhullar and Mr. Bhardwaj’s trip to India, so it is unclear how long they will be travelling through that country), but Mr. Dallas will split off the from the premier with a visit to Singapore. In May 2012, the Alberta government announced plans to open new trade offices in India and Singapore, as well as in Brazil and the United States.

Labour minister Thomas Lukaszuk will visit Harbin, Shanghai and Hangzhou, China from January 3 to 10, where he will sign memorandums of understanding with Chinese government science departments and attend the opening ceremony of the Harbin Ice Festival.  It is unclear whether he will learn about the People’s Republic approach to workplace safety and workers rights to fit with his new role as Labour minister.

This will be the fourth visit to Harbin by an Alberta cabinet minister since 2012.

Agriculture minister Verlyn Olson leaves for Oklahoma City, Oklahoma today to attend the Minister at the Legislative Agriculture Chairs Summit. Mr. Olson will be accompanied by Stony Plain MLA Ken Lemke. They are scheduled to return to Alberta on January 6.

Strathcona-Sherwood Park MLA Dave Quest and Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA David Dorward are heading to sunny San Antonio, Texas to attend a Ports-to-Plains Alliance meeting from January 5 to 8.

Fourth-term PC backbencher Alana DeLong is headed on two trips this month. The Calgary-Bow MLA will attend Pacific North West Economic Region legislative visits in Olympia, Washington and Boise, Idaho from January 13 to 16 and in Juneau, Alaska from January 21 to 23.

The estimated cost for these international trips, including travel, accommodation and meals for politicians and staff in January 2014 is estimated at $218,160.

Map: MLA travel from November 2011 to December 2013


View Alberta Cabinet Minister and MLA Travel November 2011-December 2013 in a larger map

Since my last update in September 2013, government cabinet ministers and MLAs made trips to Istanbul, San Antonio, Washington DC, Shanghai, Harbin, Seoul, Daegu, Beijing, Tokyo, Chicago, Warsaw and London. Since November 2011, Alberta’s cabinet ministers and MLAs have travelled to 24 countries on official government business. By the end of January 2014, it will be 26.