Alberta Official Opposition Leader Christina Gray said the government’s $4.6 billion surplus has led to it handing out to its friends at the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) large bonuses and pay increases. On Wednesday, the Alberta government raised the pay of the AER Board chair and some directors. “Albertans do not want AER brass to get rich,” said Gray in a Thursday speech during Question Period in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. “They want them to do their jobs and ensure Alberta is developed responsibly.” After Smith’s close friend David Yager’s $70,000 report that recommended giving AER more cash, she appointed him to its board. Gray asked why she was giving certain board members a Christmas bonus. If the Alberta NDP consulted the record, Smith said it would see this was an adjustment back to the levels it was paying when it was in government. “And they also should know 100% of the cost of the Alberta Energy Regulator is paid for by the industry that is being regulated,” said Smith. “There are no taxpayer dollars going in to support the AER.” In fact, she said what the Alberta government is doing is ensuring it attracts the best people to return the AER to its former legacy of being the best regulator in oil and gas. At the moment, she said she thinks it will have some good people join it. However, Gray responded by saying better pay should equal better performance and that was not what Albertans were getting. “What they get is an AER Board chair filing an expense on July 30th that is mindblowing — $1,637 dinner,” she said. “One hundred nine hours if that was minimum wage, Mr. Speaker.” While the dinner was expensive, she asked Smith to reveal who attended it, why she was giving its board members double their pay, and why she felt the board chair deserved a raise to $174,000 per year. Smith said the AER is a quasi-judicial board that has independence. “It has an independent board with an independent director, and they make independent decisions funded independently by industry,” she said. “If there are issues, it will be dealt with on an internal basis.” With the NDP, she said she did not want it giving people the impression the Alberta government was funding these decisions with their taxes. The AER is funded by industry levies and operates in a way that ensures it can do the work it can on delivering top oversight on the oil and gas industry. Gray noted there are issues with the AER Board. “The AER Board chair also expensed a $1,000 dinner on March 20th at none other than the Calgary Petroleum Club (CPC),” she said. The AER paid for grilled squids, 10 ounce ribeyes and sirloins, filet mignons, caper buttered salmons, roast ducks, wild boar Bolognese, chocolate cakes, and apple arugula salads. She questioned if Smith agreed with its expense policies and why was she giving the chair a bonus if she disagreed. Although Gray was upset, Smith said the NDP could discuss with the industry leaders paying the levies to see if they have issues with the AER Board chair meeting them at the CPC. “That seems like the kind of thing you’d expect that a member of the Alberta Energy Regulator would do,” she said. As she has said before, the Alberta government cannot have the same policies for independent, industry-funded organizations versus the strict rules it has for public agencies. Alberta Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean set the salary paid out to AER Board Chair Duncan Au to $174,000 per year. Moreover, Jean ordered the salaries payable to five AER Board directors become $112,500 per year. Jean had the authority to do this under the Responsible Energy Development Act. The Alberta NDP said in May Smith gave Yager a third sole-sourced contract..Smith awards third sole-sourced contract to close friend .The $136,000 contract from the Executive Council of Alberta was awarded for professional services..Prior to receiving this sole-sourced contract, Yager obtained a $60,000 one to develop a report on Alberta’s energy future and another for $70,000 to review the AER. In April, he was appointed to the AER Board.
