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NDP call out Steve Allan over expenses billed to taxpayers during energy inquiry

Last Updated Aug 5, 2021 at 4:15 pm MDT

Steve Allan, pictured, a leading forensic and restructuring accountant, has been appointed commissioner for the inquiry.

CALGARY — NDP MLA for Calgary-McCall, Ifran Sabir, says Steve Allan enjoyed Vancouver’s finest luxury hotels and restaurants at Alberta taxpayers’ expense during his trip to B.C. in 2019 while working on the province’s public inquiry into foreign-funded anti-Alberta energy campaigns.

“Once again, Jason Kenney’s handpicked appointees have been caught enjoying a life of luxury at the expense of hardworking Albertans,” Sabir said in a release. “Steve Allan’s inquiry is a million dollars over budget, delayed three times, discredited by his promotion of junk science, and tainted by revelations he steered almost a million dollars of his budget to his son’s law firm.

“Now we know he also enjoyed a very comfortable time at work and stuck Albertans with the bill. These expenses must be repaid, either by Allan or by the UCP.”

The NDP release also says Allan billed taxpayers $680 for a single night at the Westin Bayshore, a luxury hotel at the water’s edge in Vancouver’s prestigious Coal Harbour neighbourhood.


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The release goes on to list a couple of other expenses, but also says they stopped being reported. Sabir is calling for the full details of his expenses to be released immediately.

“Steve Allan sent Albertans his hotel bills and then asked the taxpayers for even more money after missing deadline after deadline,” Sabir said “Clearly, Minister Sonya Savage failed to keep any watch on the taxpayer’s dollars. We need to see all the expenses and they need to be repaid.”

The Government of Alberta responded to Sabir’s comments in a statement on Thursday afternoon:

“Commissioner Steve Allan followed all the appropriate spending guidelines on his working visit to Vancouver BC.

It is not uncommon for Vancouver to have higher than average hotel rates during busy seasons and the Commissioner ensured his hotel rates were competitive and expensed his meals within limit.

I’ll also remind you that during the NDP’s time in Government, NDP MLA’s have stayed in the worlds top luxury hotel resorts such as the Bayerischer Hof in Muchen, the Rosewood in Abu Dhabi, and Strand Palace in London. “