Quite a scene in the House yesterday afternoon! MLA Bharat Agnihotri was asking the Minister of Parks, Recreation and Culture about dozens of Community Initiatives Program(CIP) grants that exceeded $10,000 without matching community funds. This violates the rules of the Fund and raises questions about how these ‘special’ cases are chosen.

His questions went on to ask if all the Conservative leadership candidates would disclose their campaign donors to show Albertans that there was nothing to hide in the grant allocations. At this point Min. Hancock, one of the leadership candidates, called a ‘point of order’ to identify this question as ‘out of order’ and an insult. The Speaker, Mr Kowalski, considered this and agreed with his fellow Conservative colleague and demanded an apology of Mr Agnihotri; who refused, saying it was a reasonable question. Mr Agnihotri was then asked to leave the chambers for an indefinite period with a suggestion that he could lose his salary for the same period.

Interesting times, with a Conservative government that remain acutely sensitive to any suggestion that they are not ‘open and transparent’ as they like to consider themselves to be!

The full record (Hansard) can be read on my website(Or in PDF form below). Please read the interaction between Min. Goodreau and MLA Agnihotri and give me your thoughts on the appropriateness (or not) of the questions.

Read the Legislature Documentation here: Bharat Agnihotri Questions CIP grants April 4, 2007