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This article was published 1/8/2017 (1144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Searches of Premier Brian Pallister's phone and email records from the past year suggest he carried out little government business while away in Costa Rica.

The findings -- the result of repeated media and Opposition NDP freedom of information (FIPPA) filings -- have produced evidence of only two telephone conversations the premier had with staff during more than 30 days out of the country. The two calls were made using a "family" cellphone.

The phone and email records belie Pallister's claim that he stays in regular contact with government officials while on forays to his out-of-country getaway.

Pallister has said he travelled three times to Costa Rica since last summer: in early-to mid-July last year, in late August to early September, and from mid-December to early January.

Requests for records showing the premier's use of government-issued phones or government email while in Costa Rica have produced no evidence he conducted government business while out of the country.

In May, Pallister told reporters that he pays "every single nickel" of the cost of communicating with staff in Manitoba while he's away. He also admitted that he used non-government devices, "which don't cost the taxpayer a single cent."

It was only after the NDP -- with the help of the provincial Ombudsman's office -- secured records of Pallister's business conversations using a private cell phone that it was learned that the premier appeared to have had only two phone conversations involving government business that coincided with his Costa Rican trips. Both calls took place Dec. 19. They lasted a total of 15 minutes.

NDP Minto MLA Andrew Swan, a former justice minister, said the cellphone revelations prompt several concerns.

He said the premier's use of a private cellphone rather than a government-issued device could have been an attempt to do "an end-run around freedom of information laws," something that, if true, proved to be unsuccessful.

However, Swan said what the FIPPA results also suggest is that the premier, contrary to past assurances, is not doing a lot of government work while he is away.

"It now appears that he was simply trying to hide the fact that our allegation that he does very little government business when he’s down in Costa Rica is actually the right one," he said.

Pallister was not available for comment on Tuesday.

His press secretary, Chisholm Pothier, said in a statement that when the Progressive Conservatives took office in the spring of 2016 there was no specific policy on the use of mobile devices for government business.

"The premier ... used personal devices as he felt it appropriate to cover his own communication costs while on vacation," Pothier said.

A new government policy directive, which took effect July 14, requires that members of cabinet and government staff use government-assigned email accounts, phones and text and messaging applications when conducting government business.

The new directive was developed by Fred Meier, acting clerk of the executive council (the province's top bureaucrat).

"When questions arose about the premier's methods of communication, he asked that a review of security policies and guidelines be conducted," Pothier said. "That review revealed a gap in policies and guidelines regarding the use of mobile devices for government business."

The same day that the new directive took effect, the government provided its latest response to the NDP's FIPPA request, releasing information about business phone conversations the premier had with staffers using a personal cellphone. In response to another media outlet, Pothier referred to the private telephone that was used as a "family phone." It is not registered to the premier.

Swan said previous NDP premiers and cabinet ministers, including himself, used "common sense" in the absence of a detailed government policy on the use of cellphones and email accounts. They used government-issued devices when conducting government business, he said.

Pallister has said in the past that he was following government protocols when using communication devices abroad, Swan said.

"By doing this (unveiling the new directive) the premier is now admitting that this was not true. There was no protocol, there was no particular security protection that he had," the NDP MLA said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca