The price tag for Premier Alison Redford’s trip to South Africa for the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela has soared nearly $15,000 higher than previously estimated.
Redford’s press secretary, Neala Barton, said Friday that the premier took a Government of Alberta plane to Ottawa in December at a cost of $14,992 so she could catch a free flight with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
That’s on top of an original estimated cost of $29,000 for the trip, which included a $10,000 return flight home from South Africa that has drawn extensive criticism.
“We had to make some quick decisions to get her on to the prime minister’s plane and there were some costs associated with that,†said Barton, noting the government was disclosing the amount voluntarily because the earlier figure it had provided to the Herald was mistakenly incomplete.
Barton said Redford made the final decision to accept Harper’s invitation to attend the funeral of the South African icon on Saturday, Dec. 7 but that necessitated being in Ottawa the next day.
Redford also was delivering a speech in Lake Louise that Saturday.
“By the time we were able to confirm details with the federal government, there were no Saturday options that would accommodate the premier, save for a red-eye flight that would have meant she was doing two red-eye flights in a row because the prime minister’s plane was flying overnight too,†said Barton, adding no Sunday commercial flights were available that would have allowed Redford to catch the prime minister’s plane.
Barton said that led to the decision to use the provincial aircraft, which was not being used. It left Calgary at 6:30 on Sunday morning.
“I do really want to stress that using government planes to do those long distances is absolutely not common practice. This was a highly unusual circumstance,†she said.
“The government plane was used as a last resort.â€
The premier has come under fire for taking a commercial flight home from the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela at a cost of $10,000 when she could have returned to Alberta later the same day at no charge on Harper’s plane.
Redford told reporters last week that she needed to be back for the swearing-in of the newly shuffled provincial cabinet and there was speculation Harper’s return flight would be delayed, which it ultimately was.
Derek Fildebrandt, Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the revised price tag for the South Africa trip makes it appear as though Redford has “the worst travel agent in the country.â€
“We actually have trouble figuring out how she could spend this much on flights,†Fildebrandt said. “I’m careful not to nickel and dime when it comes to travel for senior politicians, but at some point, they’ve got to be cognizant of the fact that they’re just not getting value for money at this point.â€
Wildrose finance critic Rob Anderson said attending the funeral of an international icon like Mandela was a legitimate thing for an Alberta premier to do, but a final tally of nearly $45,000 is “disrespectful†to taxpayers.