Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she did not publish the letter about problems within the City of Edmonton because of ethics concerns. When the Alberta government receives a letter about ethics concerns about a municipal politician, Smith said it will be forwarded to the ethics officer at the municipal level. “Because that’s the appropriate thing to do,” said Smith in a Saturday interview on Your Province. Your Premier. on Corus Radio. “If a council member received a concern about an MLA, they would forward it on the provincial ethics officer.” Corus Radio host Wayne Nelson started off by saying Smith had concerns about financial troubles at Edmonton city council. “Some of these concerns stemmed from a letter being sent to Municipal Affairs,” said Nelson. “A letter that Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver later said he received, but apparently a Freedom of Information request said they had no record of it.” Since the letter could not be retrieved, Nelson asked what is going on. Because of a handful of City of Edmonton senior bureacrats departing, Smith said the Alberta government has concerns. Additionally, she acknowledged it had heard it was facing challenges bridging the gap between a financial shortfall without facing a massive property tax increase. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi wrote her a letter about ways she could help, and she and McIver will be meeting with him. After receiving the letter about the problems, McIver forwarded it on to the Edmonton ethics commissioner. While concerns were raised, she said it “was an anonymous letter with some allegations that could be defamatory if not true.” She added it was best for the Alberta government to put it forward and leave it in the process. Smith concluded by saying she does not believe it “would make every single piece of correspondence that comes into every single office available.” This letter was not a government document or produced by it. “That’s my understanding at how the FOIP (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy) law works.” Smith said on March 28 a letter about problems within the City of Edmonton will not be revealed because it was written anonymously. READ MORE: Smith says letter about City of Edmonton impropriety to remain sealed“If you’re going to make serious allegations and you don’t know who your source is, there’s a level of due diligence you have to do to determine the allegations are even true,” she said. “The other is we do tend to like our municipalities to be self-governing.”
