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Jerrica Goodwin, press secretary to Finance Minister Travis Toews, said in an email that approximately $390,000 would be saved in 2020-21, compared to 2019-20, by finding redundancies in IT and administrative costs in the office of the election commissioner.

But those reductions had already been accounted for by Gibson when he proposed his budget for 2020-21, the documents indicate.

Opposition ethics critic Heather Sweet said the budget request is evidence that Bill 22 was never about cost savings.

“The UCP fired the election commissioner, purely on the basis of trying to cover up the corruption that they have in this government,” said Sweet. “This is a purely partisan attack on an individual that was investigating the leadership race, and it’s shameful and Albertans have a right to be extremely concerned.”

“There is no cost savings for Albertans.”

Resler, who has served as chief electoral officer since 2013, said investigations have not been disrupted and it is “business as usual” now that the two offices were combined on paper.

All of Gibson’s staff remain employed under Elections Alberta and no documents have been moved.

“Nothing has ceased and we’re ensuring that everything is progressing,” said Resler, noting he doesn’t expect the physical consolidation of the offices to begin for another few months.

Committee heard from a member of Resler’s team there are currently 76 complaints to the election commissioner awaiting assignment, some dating back to before the election.