The documents also show that Calgary lawyer and prominent Tory Joe Lougheed, son of former premier Peter Lougheed, wanted to bill the university $4,500 in 2008. At the time, Lougheed was contracted to provide government relations work for the university.
He noted in the e-mail the university was “precluded” from buying a table at the premier's dinner directly.
“We buy the table for the U of C write off the disbursement and then simply charge for an equivalent amount of time,” said the e-mail from Lougheed dated Aug. 13, 2008.
“This is a practice we have followed for a couple of years now.”
However, the university lawyer at the time, Charlene Anderson, wrote back saying she objected to the practice, as soon as she became aware of it.
“This practice, in my opinion, exposes the University to unnecessary risks — legally, financially and reputationally,” Anderson said in an e-mail to Lougheed.
“The University cannot pay for services that were not rendered, nor should we circumvent the rules that preclude us from buying a table.”
In a later e-mail Anderson wrote: “I stand by my very real concern that this practice is illegal and is unacceptable.”
Earlier this year, Lougheed submitted a statement to the university saying his “poorly drafted e-mail” from 2008 might have created confusion but he never billed for services not requested by and provided to the university.
“At no time did I or (his law firm, Fraser Milner Casgrain) act on behalf of the University of Calgary as an agent to facilitate political donations.”
On Friday, Lougheed wasn’t available for comment. Martin McInally — who acts as a public relations representative for Fraser Milner Casgrain — said the firm does not comment on its work or clients, and the issue is “being looked at by the chief electoral officer.”
In news release sent out Friday morning, the university said a freedom of information requests prompted an investigation into whether money flowed from university coffers to the provincial Tory party.
Under Alberta’s elections law, the university is considered a “prohibited corporation” and is barred from donating any money to political parties — because it receives money from the provincial government.
“In the course of investigating. . .several electronic communications and other documents were discovered indicating that the university may have indirectly contributed to various political causes after it was prohibited by provincial legislation in 2004,” the news release said.
“However, the university has received conflicting information as to whether this occurred. Regardless, when the records were identified in response to the FOIP request, the university took the possibility of a historical violation of the legislation very seriously.”
Illegal donations became a major political issue in the lead-up to April’s provincial election. Nearly all the allegations that were made public involved the long-governing Progressive Conservative party or its constituency associations.
Opposition parties have accused the long-governing Tories of wilfully flouting the law for years and of creating a culture where local officials felt compelled to donate to the party.
Alberta’s chief electoral officer Brian Fjeldheim is already investigating dozens of other alleged political donations from municipalities, school divisions, post-secondary institutions and other “prohibited corporations” to political parties or constituency associations.
Last month, the agency said it’s completed a review of 59 cases out of a total of 79.
In 28 files, there is enough evidence to impose administrative penalties — fines equal to the donation — on the donors, while in a further 13 cases, the donors and recipients have been censured because the allegations were “partly well founded.”
It’s unclear whether the university is among those cases being reviewed.
On Friday, the university said it voluntarily reported the findings of its own investigation to Fjeldheim in February. A number of “third parties” mentioned in the documents were also notified of the access to information requests.
“From the records, it appears that if there were any indirect contributions which contravened the legislation, the amount involved was just under $10,000,” the university said in the statement.
The university said the “activity” took place between 2004 and 2008. In 2008, the university directed the termination of any practice that might contravene the legislation, the statement added.
“The University of Calgary is fully and demonstrably committed to adhering to public policy and legislation, and to following the highest practices of good governance and ethical behaviour.”
Original Article
Source: edmonton journal
Author: Kelly Cryderman
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