EDMONTON, AB – Jim Prentice’s hand-picked minister and PC Edmonton-Whitemud candidate Stephen Mandel expensed over $69,000 to taxpayers for Edmonton Oilers tickets between 2008 and 2012, along with high priced travel bills, thousands in hosting tabs and even tickets to Edmonton’s Symphony Orchestra, the Wildrose announced today.
The previously undisclosed expenses were released as part of a freedom of information request. With the average spent on Oilers season tickets per year being almost $14,000, Wildrose estimates that is the price for a pair of Gold level season’s tickets.
The City has refused to release detailed receipts with the FOIP, so exactly which tickets were bought is not known. However, the City has access to a skybox at Rexall Place, so these tickets should not have been required for hosting purposes. It is not known if City Council was aware of these expenses.
“Whether it’s expensing illegal donations to the PC party, or showing a repeated pattern of abusing taxpayers’ dollars for high level perks, it’s clear the culture of entitlement is alive and well in the PC party,” Wildrose Edmonton-Whitemud candidate Tim Grover said. “This is just more of the same from a tired and out-of-touch PC party. Even the prime minister of Canada pays for his own hockey tickets. Mr. Mandel owes taxpayers an explanation as to why he believes he’s entitled to free Gold season tickets at taxpayer’s expense.”
Grover called on Mandel to pay taxpayers back, saying Albertans are tired with PC politicians living lavishly on taxpayer dollars.
“All of this suggests that Mr. Mandel feels as though he is entitled to money that doesn’t belong to him,” Grover said. “Edmontonians are ready to send the PCs a message that they are tired of the same old stories of waste and entitlement coming from PC politicians. They want to vote for a new generation of leadership that puts taxpayers first.”