Nenshi questions UCP transparency policy

By Lethbridge Herald on August 20, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

Naheed Nenshi says Albertans deserve a transparent government, not one that muddies the waters on important issues such as MLA expenses.

On Aug. 1, a policy that had been in place since 2012 was quietly altered, removing the requirement for government officials to proactively disclose their taxpayer-funded expenses by publicly posting itemized receipts. The original policy allowed anyone to see the itemized receipts without paying a freedom-of-information application fee and possibly waiting months for the documents.

Nenshi, in town for a town hall meeting and to help kick off Whoop-Up Days, told reporters on Tuesday that the opposition NDP are demanding accountability from all members of government.

“One of the things that Premier Smith and the UCP have been doing, is consistently pulling back on transparency,” he said. “This is the most opaque government I’ve ever seen.”

What the UCP government has done in terms of changing ethics disclosures and gifts policies is “shocking.” 

“We had a number of cabinet ministers admit that they took hockey tickets from the guy at the centre of the Corrupt Care scandal, and this has never been publicly disclosed.”

Nenshi said the policy in Calgary when he was mayor was simple: council members publicly disclosed every gift they received.

“And now what (the UCP has) done is that they are no longer publishing their receipts; they deleted eight years of expense disclosures the Friday before the long-weekend and the premier claims she knew nothing about it.”

He said that if that’s the case, Albertans deserve a premier whot knows what is going on in their government. 

“In reality, of course she knew what was going on. She just wasn’t expecting the backlash and we deserve a premier that believes in transparency and believes in being honest with us.”

Reversing the policy change is a “no-brainer,” said Nenshi, but what the UCP government needs to do goes much deeper. 

“They need to change the policy so that we know who has access to politicians, who is buying things for politicians and do they have government businesses. This is not rocket science, every government does it. We need this government to pull back and make sure is run for the people, not for the people who has the most money.”