EDMONTON—A top aide of Premier Jason Kenney under fire for his spending on five-star hotels during his trips to London was in the British capital to fight what the United Conservatives call defamation against Alberta’s oil and gas sector.

Kenney’s principal adviser David Knight-Legg, former Head of Transition for the United Conservative government, has been called out by the Alberta NDP Opposition for spending more than $45,000 of taxpayers’ money on trips, including expenses for fancy hotels and meals on four separate visits to London, U.K.

Some of the expenses Knight-Legg is being criticized for include stays at the five-star Chilworth London Paddington Hotel or at the historic Kettner’s hotel, where Knight-Legg spent $1,614 on a four-night stay in the beginning of September. The total cost of Knight-Legg’s trips to London since May is around $18,680.

Government spokesperson Harrison Fleming said the reasons behind Knight-Legg’s travels to London have centred around securing capital investment for Alberta, as well as working on the government’s aim to counter “the misinformation campaign of defamation” against Alberta’s energy sector — a cause the government has dedicated significant resources to, including $30 million toward the creation of their Canadian Energy Centre, also known as the energy war room.

Fleming said, however, that while Knight-Legg was in London partly to promote a message similar to that of the energy war room, he was not on official war room business. He added Knight-Legg has met with major banks, private equity funds and insurers during his trips to London.

“Due to the commercially sensitive nature of the meetings — and the fact that foreign-funded activists groups are actively targeting Alberta and large companies doing business in our province — the companies are not named,” Fleming said.

Kenney spoke about travels his staff have been making outside of Canada during a speech in Calgary on Wednesday, where he said, “I’ve had members of my staff meeting with global companies in London and Europe and elsewhere, to tell the truth about Alberta’s responsible energy production.”

Heather Sweet, NDP democracy and ethics critic, has questioned the purpose behind Knight-Legg’s trips to London — a city that Kenney has yet to visit on official government business. She has also criticized the lavish spending after the United Conservative government tabled a budget filled with cuts to public service and a focus on fiscal restraint.

“We have seen no substantive announcements about policy or collaboration with the United Kingdom,” Sweet said. “In fact, we can’t find a record of a member of the Kenney cabinet going to London or referencing the trade relationship with the country as a whole.”

The government defended Knight-Legg’s spending. Fleming said it is in line with provincial policy, and his trips were justified as London is a global financial capital.

“Mr. Knight-Legg, a highly-credentialed and experienced business professional, is tasked with working to bring that investment back to Alberta,” Fleming said in a statement. “This obviously includes meeting with companies and investors to sell the merits of Alberta.”

Fleming said some of the meetings with investors were held in London’s financial district hotels, which required Knight-Legg to be in proximity to the area.

But the Opposition is demanding the government release a detailed itinerary of all four trips Knight-Legg has taken to London in the last six months. “Otherwise Albertans have no way of knowing if this former international banker was conducting his own business and making the taxpayer pick up the bill,” Sweet said.

The criticism of Knight-Legg’s travel spending comes at the heels of another controversy, in which Kenney was revealed to have spent $16,000 of taxpayers money on plane tickets for other premiers and their spouses after Calgary Stampede.

The passengers included Kenney, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and Bob McLeod, who was then premier of the Northwest Territories. Moe and Higgs had their spouses on the flight as well.

Kenney told reporters there was no available commercial flight after Stampede, so his government used public money to pay for his fellow premiers — and him — to get to a Council of the Federation meeting on time.

But in a time of budget cutbacks, NDP Leader Rachel Notley called the decision “incredibly tone deaf.”

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Correction - Nov. 13, 2019: A previous version of this article said David Knight-Legg attended London for work through the government’s Canada Energy Centre, dedicated to fight what the United Conservatives call defamation against Alberta’s oil and gas sector. While Knight-Legg did do similar work on his London trips, he did not do so in an official capacity on behalf of the Energy Centre. As well, a previous version of the article said the government dedicated $30,000 toward the creation of the Canadian Energy Centre. In fact, it was $30 million.

With files from Kieran Leavitt

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