Alberta’s all-party panel to improve ethics in democracy ends in anger, insults

EDMONTON — Alberta's flagship all-party legislature committee tasked with improving ethics in democracy wrapped up in a flurry of anger and insults Friday, with its work less than half done.

The opposition and members of the governing NDP — while agreeing to pass a motion asking the legislature to renew their mandate — accused each other of deliberately driving the agenda into the ditch.

NDP member Estefania Cortes-Vargas said she's watched the committee "deteriorate" to the point where it spent half an hour debating whether or not to adjourn.

She blamed the opposition, citing specifically its successful bid earlier this week to eat up hours of debate time to temporarily remove NDP member Jessica Littlewood from the committee chair over allegations Littlewood stepped out of her impartial role to broker backroom deals on motions.

"We spent two hours on Monday challenging an allegation I consider bogus," said Cortes-Vargas.

The opposition members fired back, saying what the NDP considered delay tactics, they considered critical debate over what they label heavy-handed behaviour and attempts by the committee to ram through self-serving NDP changes to campaign finance rules.

"I know it seems to drive government members bananas when we disagree with them, (but) I didn't get sent here to rubber stamp everything they say," said Wildrose member Jason Nixon.

Nixon also noted the NDP caucus, which controls the scheduling of meetings through the chair, called just six meetings in the first seven months of the year-long committee mandate.

"Blaming the opposition for the jam that we are in because the government can't schedule a meeting properly is disgusting," said Nixon.

NDP MLA Marie Renaud said few meetings were called in early months because the committee was seeking out stakeholders and gathering information.

Greg Clark of the Alberta Party says it's nobody's fault. He said it was unrealistic for the government to expect the panel to review four major pieces of legislation in one year.

"This stuff takes time. It just does," said Clark.

The 17-member Select Special Ethics and Accountability Committee was created last year in the glow of the NDP election win and hailed as a landmark, hands-across-the aisle effort to breathe new life into Alberta's democratic traditions.

The panel was given until Sept. 28 of this year to make recommendations on rule changes governing elections, election financing, whistleblower legislation, and conflict-of-interest laws.

The panel finished the whistleblower portion but, in recent months, collapsed into confrontations and heated debate over campaign financing.

The opposition has accused the NDP committee members of over-reaching into party financing and trying to tailor the rules to prop up its modest-budget, top-down fundraising model while squeezing the constituency-level financing deemed critical to parties like the Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives.

The NDP side has said it's just trying to get big money out of politics.

The committee passed a motion asking the legislative assembly, when it sits again starting in late October, to extend its mandate to March 31 to allow it to finish its work. In the meantime, it will write an interim report on its whistleblower recommendations.

Its fate is up in the air.

Government house leader Brian Mason said this week he was "disgusted" by the filibuster tactics of the opposition, saying it made him wonder if there was any point to extending the mandate.

PC member Richard Starke told the committee Mason's comments interfere with the committee's independence.

"I was absolutely disgusted that he should make those sort of comments," said Starke.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press