In the National Post today the Premier’s plans to spend $200,000 on a brochure explaining his ideas for Alberta was exposed. Many skeptics have come forward to question the legitimacy of spending taxpayers money on what amounts to a personal promotion pamphlet.  The opposition parties don’t have access to an extra $200,000 to prop up their popularity.  The Alberta Liberal Caucus gets roughly 1 million a year to pay for staff, communications, promotion, events.  The Government spends over 14 million a year just for their Public Affairs bureau (read below for more info on the PAB).  Is this glaring inequality not a disservice to democracy? Can we trust that the information we’re receiving is unbiased and accurate?

Read the article here: National Post – Stelmach Brochure Costs $200 000

Kevin Taft’s new book, Democracy Derailed, also questions the legitimacy of the Public Affairs Bureau, its massive budget and its close ties with the Premier’s office.

“Of course, the Public Affairs Bureau would never publicly admit to performing a partisan function. They portray themselves as impartial servants of the public, enabling the efficient exchange of information between the government and the people. If their message fits seamlessly with Conservative priorities, it’s only because those policies are always correct. This attitude has earned the bureau its infamous nickname, the Ministry of Truth, which even its own employees occasionally embrace, though off the record, of course.”

“Today, the Public Affairs Bureau is all about politics. The final transformation took place in late 1992, when the premier’s right-hand man, Rod Love, brought all the Public Affairs Bureau’s reporting lines directly into the premier’s office…..The premier’s office is now the hub of a large, professional communication network that in 2006-07 spent $14.4 million on operations and employed the equivalent of 117 full-time staff”