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Disclosure of Information on Environmental Charges

Ms Blakeman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier’s office is clearly involved in information suppression concerning the 90 charges laid against Suncor. The Public Affairs Bureau, which reports to the Premier, chose to enforce a policy to not inform the public at the time that these charges were laid, thereby avoiding an election campaign controversy and leaving the public uninformed. My questions are to the Premier. Will the Premier accept responsibility for the actions of the staff and admit the obvious, that there was political meddling in the public’s right to know?

Mr. Stelmach: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment will answer this question.

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, I just had a discussion with the media outside. As I indicated to them yesterday, I was under the impression that there was, in fact, a process for advising the public and the media any time charges were laid as a result of an investigation. I subsequently found out that there is a long-standing policy in Alberta Environment, that was put there by a minister previous to me, that is to the contrary, that disclosure does not come until after the court case has been decided. I also just advised the media that I made a decision yesterday afternoon and have advised my staff to the same, that that policy shall be revised immediately, and in the future there will be disclosure and transparency.

Ms Blakeman: Well, Mr. Speaker, when the Public Affairs Bureau wants the public to know something, it tells the world. Witness the hoopla over the charges that were laid over the 500 ducks. But when the government wants to keep it a secret, its lips are sealed, even from its own MLAs. Again to the Premier: who in the Premier’s office enforced that policy to not let people know what was happening in their own community? Who was responsible for burying this issue?

Mr. Stelmach: Mr. Speaker, as the minister explained, nobody was responsible for holding back any information. There was a policy in place. In fact, quite frankly, when the issue with Syncrude came up, we probably broke the policy that the Department of Environment had. I wasn’t aware of the policy, and the minister wasn’t aware, but now in keeping with openness and transparency, we’ll change the policy. When any issues like that come up, they’ll be made public as soon as we can, as soon as possible.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Blakeman: Thank you. Going back to the Premier again: given that the Crown has to be pretty certain of its success before it is encouraged to lay any kind of charges, why would the government choose a policy to not disclose, to hide information in other words, especially information that was available around an election campaign? Why would you choose a policy to not disclose on water contamination until the conclusion of a court case? That runs contrary to why you send a Crown prosecutor out there.

Mr. Stelmach: The member is going in circles. Actually, they keep going to the election and saying that this was for some reason suppressed. Documents are public. Any time there is a charge laid, those documents are public. The fact is that during a campaign there is a firewall between the government and the people operating the government during that period of time, and that’s the way to do it. They followed the policy that was in Environment. You know, this is I don’t know how many days now that the opposition is pointing to factors other than their very own issue of not being able to win the trust and confidence of Albertans, and that’s why they’re in the position they’re in. They lost a whole bunch of members, both of those parties, because they didn’t gain the trust and confidence.