Tag: Verlyn Olson

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tory backbenchers sat silently, then voted to gag the public accounts committee.

Don Braid has published an excellent column in today’s Calgary Herald on the decision by Wetaskiwin-Camrose MLA Verlyn Olson and six other PC MLAs to vote in favor of weakening the power of the Public Accounts Committee to be a financial watchdog.

As I wrote last week, the powers of the committee were curtailed when PC MLAs voted to create a new rule forcing Committee Chairman MLA Hugh MacDonald to have all future committee correspondence approved by Deputy Chair PC MLA Dave Rodney. When the issue was raised by opposition MLAs in Question Period, Premier Ed Stelmach, Education Minister Dave Hancock, and Deputy Premier Doug Horner have scoffed at the complaints, citing how powerless they are when it comes to influencing their backbench MLAs.

As shown in Hansard transcripts of the April 14 Public Accounts Committee meeting, Only Mr. Olson and Mr. Rodney  spoke in favor of the motion. Both Liberal Harry Chase and New Democrat Brian Mason spoke and voted against the motion. Not one of the five other PC MLAs at the meeting spoke to the motion. Edmonton PC MLAs David Xiao, Tony Vandermeer, Peter Sandhu, Doug Elniski, and Red Deer MLA Cal Dallas all sat silently until it was time to vote on Mr. Olson’s motion and they all voted in favor of it.

UPDATE: After significant public pressure, it appears that Mr. Olson might introduce a new motion to withdraw his original motion at tomorrow’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee.

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more on the public un-accounts committee.


This afternoon, Liberal leader David Swann delivered a private members’ statement questioning changes that would dilute the power of the Public Accounts Committee, which acts as an important watchdog on public expenditures.

As I wrote yesterday, a motion introduced by Wetaskiwin-Camrose MLA Verlyn Olson now requires that “all future correspondence on behalf of the public accounts committee (must) be signed by both the chair and deputy chair.” The Deputy Chair is currently Calgary-Lougheed PC MLA Dave Rodney. The opposition MLAs called for an emergency debate on the issue, but were declined by Speaker Ken Kowalski.

I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Olson is a key player in a shady conspiracy to destroy democracy, but I do believe that a lack of leadership from his party’s leader has led to these kind of decisions being made.


As demonstrated by this Question Period exchange between Dr. Swann and Premier Ed Stelmach, it appears as though the Premier is unaware or has chosen to ignore the detrimental effects this motion could have on the Public Accounts Committee. I also believe that the biggest weakness of the Liberal opposition in the Assembly is their focus on daily tactics, rather than long-term strategy (calling Premier Stelmach a banana republic autocrat is not helpful).

It has been suggested that the Mr. Olsen and other PC MLAs on the committee were not pleased with Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA Hugh MacDonald‘s performance as Chairman. If this is the case, this is not a reason to weaken the authority of the committee which is charged with reviewing reports of the Auditor General of Alberta and the public accounts of the province, but a reason to replace the Chairman. There are other opposition MLAs on this committee would could fulfill this role.

Forcing the Chairman of the committee to seek approval from a Government MLA before sending correspondence, scheduling meetings, or requesting the attendence of government officials to answer questions about public accounts only serves to dilute the fiscal accountability of our government.

As noted in my previous post, I have contacted Mr. Olson’s office to seek an explanation as to why he introduced this motion, but I have yet to receive a response.

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public un-accounts committee.

According to its mandate, Alberta’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts is an all-party committee consisting of 17 Members of the Legislative Assembly that reviews the annual report of the Auditor General of Alberta and the public accounts of the province. It is tradition across Canada that an opposition MLA occupy the Chairmanship of this committee.

Via to Capital Notebook, Edmonton-Gold Bar Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald is crying foul after his powers as Chairman were severely limited by a recent motion by Wetaskiwin-Camrose PC MLA Verlyn Olsen to require that “all future correspondence on behalf of the public accounts committee (must) be signed by both the chair and deputy chair.” The Deputy Chair is currently Calgary-Lougheed PC MLA Dave Rodney.

More from Capital Notebook:

…before MacDonald can send out e-mails, make plans for future meetings, and demand government bodies make an appearance before the all-party committee, Calgary-Lougheed Tory Dave Rodney (the deputy chair) must give him the nod.

It’s an unusual practice, since it doesn’t happen in any other legislative committee, all of which are dominated by government Conservatives. Olson’s motion this morning was backed by all present government members and opposed by NDP Leader Brian Mason and Calgary-Varsity Liberal Harry Chase. (MacDonald, as the chairman, can’t actually vote.)

This is not the first time that the already limited power Alberta’s Public Accounts Committee has been harshly criticized. Here is an exert from MLA Kevin Taft‘s 2007 book Democracy Derailed which describes how much that committee’s oversight power had been limited:

Alberta’s Public Accounts Committee can meet once a week only when the legislature is sitting, which is all of three months per year. During approximately a dozen 90-minute meetings, the committee must review the spending of 24 provincial government departments with a combined budget of $24 billion.

That’s not all. Unlike the federal Public Accounts Committee, Alberta’s Public Accounts Committee cannot submit a report to the legislature. Legislators outside of Alberta find this restriction hard to fathom. Conservative Member of Parliament John Williams said “It’s shocking. I cannot believe a government majority would use their capacity to set the rules like that.”

It is unclear what prompted Mr. Olson to introduce this motion or why the PC MLAs on the committee supported it. I have contacted Mr. Olson’s office for an explanation and if I receive a response, I will post it here. I try to stay away from conspiracy theories, but with MLAs expected to start their summer break tomorrow (yes, in April) and the introduction of the distracted driver legislation taking the headlines, it feels like this motion was designed to be lost in the shuffle.

UPDATE: Alex Muir from the Roundhouse blog has offered some thoughts on Mr. Olson’s motion.

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