It’s getting hard to keep track of all the hits Ed Stelmach’s government is taking (note to opposition researches – maybe you should save some of these for the election). The latest involves the…I am not making this up…”Idaho-Alberta Transboundary Task Force”, where Tory MLAs were paid $19,000 for doing absolutely nothing. And I’m not using “absolutely nothing” in the sense that Tory MLAs aren’t doing anything for the province – I mean “absolutely nothing” in the sense that it was a non-existent committee. The committee was tasked with improving the relationship between Idaho and Alberta which by itself is fine, so long as “improving the relationship” doesn’t involve any Alberta politicians tapping their feet in airport washrooms.

The problem appears to be that:

According to the documents, the only work the task force did was hosting an
Idaho delegation that came to Alberta for a conference in July 2006.

That must have been one great conference. But, although I found my Larry Craig joke above somewhat funny, the best line goes to Roch Bergeron for this letter to the editor in today’s Herald:

Idaho – Re: “$19,000 paid for little or no work,” Sept. 25.

So, Tory MLA Cindy Ady received roughly $11,500 because she “was in charge of making sure that we had a good relationship with Idaho.”

Well, Cindy, our family drove through Idaho this past summer, and everyone there was very friendly.

I think you are doing an excellent job.

By the way, there are a couple of ad agencies in Montreal that sure could use your expertise.