PCs apologize, unveil new rules for government plane use following AG report

Apologies and promises.

That’s what the PC government gave Tuesday afternoon in Edmonton as Interim Premier Dave Hancock and Finance Minister Doug Horner outlined new rules and regulations for government plane use.

This, after this month’s damning auditor-general report about the misuse of the planes by former Premier Alison Redford.

Hancock began the announcement by apologizing to Albertans on behalf of the government.

“There’s no question that Albertans feel let down by their government and that means all of us,” he said. “As elected members of that government, it’s our responsibility to rebuild the trust that we’ve rightly lost and stand up and say we are accountable.”

Despite the opposition’s calls for Horner to resign – and some from PC members – Hancock defended the minister saying the oversight and management of the use of the planes, is the responsibility of the minister in charge of them and we shouldn’t need to be policed by the minister.

Along with the acceptance of the report’s recommendations, Horner laid out the new measures including invited guests must now be pre-approved by the minister responsible for the plane’s use.

“The request must show what reasonable government business requirement is being meant, if the invited guest is a family member, it must be shown that they have been invited to attend the government meeting or function,” he said.

Each request for a plane must also identify if there are other commercial options available.

“The request must also include the mileage and driving time between the two communities along with why the government aircraft is the preferred option,” Horner said.

As for now, the fleet will continue to be grounded for out of province travel and the government will provide a quarterly update to Albertans about the communities served by flights and their cost.

The new premier will be able to consider whether out of province travel is warranted and if so, any flight will be subject to pre-approval by the minister responsible, provided it’s justified.

Hancock also said he didn’t believe he misled the House in the spring when he defended a 2012 flight from Edmonton to Grande Prairie, which was later cited by the Auditor-General’s report as being done for partisan purposes.

“I believed right up until that report came out, that flight was legitimately booked for legitimate government business that was important,” Hancock said.

Despite his department overseeing government spending, Horner added he hasn’t reconsidered his decision not to resign.

“In my mind, there really wasn’t a lot of decision,” he said. “Very disappointed in some trust that I placed in certain individuals in the past, there’s nothing I can do about that.”