Last October, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was hoping to watch the Edmonton Oilers play their arch-rivals, the Calgary Flames, in the NHL’s Heritage Classic outdoor game being played at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
But she couldn’t go.
According to the premier, as told to Ryan Jespersen on his Real Talk podcast on Nov. 1, the Ethics Commissioner told Smith that if she went, she would only be allowed to be in a suite for 20 minutes.
“I want to stay within the rules, but sometimes with the rules haven’t kept up with where we find ourselves today,” she said. “We may have to adjust them.”
On Nov. 9, the United Conservative Party government did just that, introducing changes to the Conflicts of Interest Act making it easier for politicians and their staff to accept fees, gifts, benefits, tickets and invitations. The legislation now requires MLAs to disclose tickets in certain circumstances, and also empowers the premier’s chief of staff, currently Marshall Smith (profiled recently by The Globe), to determine what is acceptable for political staff.
Which leads to this spring and what was the hottest ticket in town.
According to several sources who confided in The Globe’s Carrie Tait, Alberta cabinet ministers and other officials attended Oilers playoff games in Edmonton as guests of Sam Mraiche, a man whose company, MHCare Medical, was involved in the government’s importation of children’s medicine from Turkey back in winter 2022-23. This was the deal where Alberta received just 30 per cent of an order of 5 million bottles of medicine that arrived too late to help solve an acute shortage of children’s pain medication.
During the same playoff run, the premier and her staff attended an Oilers game in Vancouver with tickets provided by Sam Jaber, a director with Invest Alberta, a provincial Crown corporation designed to promote, identify, and pursue investments in the province.
The Globe is not identifying its source as they were not authorized to disclose the information.
Premier Smith’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment about any of the hockey games.
One Alberta cabinet minister, Nathan Neudorf, Minister of Affordability and Utilities, said in an interview that he attended one playoff game in Edmonton as a guest of Mraiche. Neudorf said he was offered box seats multiple times, but declined, except for the one game against the Canucks. He also said he received clearance from the Ethics Commissioner.
“I don’t need to hide anything,” he said. “I have no problem telling the truth.”
A separate government source, who attended a different game, said Mraiche’s box was a gathering spot during intermission, with ministers and top political staff socializing with others who were either in the suite or in ones belonging to other corporations.
Mraiche didn’t return messages seeking comment.
The game the Premier attended was on May 10, where she shared a box with British Columbia Premier David Eby and Vancouver mayor Ken Sim.
“Premier Danielle Smith attended a hockey game on personal time. None of her expenses were paid for by the Government of Alberta,” Sam Blackett, her spokesman, told The Globe in a statement on May 13. “Premier Smith travelled with two staff, both paid their own expenses. The hockey tickets were provided by a private citizen. All rules under the Alberta Conflicts of Interest Act were followed.”
Jaber, and his accounting and tax firm, Jaberson & Associates, gave the Premier the tickets, according to The Globe’s source.
Blackett did not respond to further questions, sent July 17, about Jaber, who himself did not respond to messages seeking comment.
This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.