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Alberta N-D-P Pull Plug on Edmonton fundraiser as Ethics commissioner Launches Investigation

Feb 24, 2016 | 6:39 AM

EDMONTON: Alberta’s NDP party cancelled an Edmonton fundraising event just hours before it was set to begin after an investigation was launched by the ethics commissioner.

Cheryl Oates, who speaks for Premier Rachel Notley, says the cancellation surrounds part of the fundraiser Tuesday night at the Alberta Art Gallery.

The main part of the event is a reception with tickets sold for $250 apiece, and that function is still going ahead.

However, the party had also sold tickets at $1,000 apiece guaranteeing those ticket holders a private dinner with Notley and her MLAs at a separate room in the art gallery prior to the main event.

The Wildrose party sent a letter to ethics commissioner Marguerite Trussler questioning whether the $1,000 ticket event met the ethical bar set out in Alberta’s Conflicts of Interest Act.

Trussler had originally OK’d the $1,000-per-ticket event, but has reopened the matter following the Wildrose complaint.