B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak is not attending the United Nations Climate Conference in Morocco, and her staff is refusing to release the budget for the three-person delegation.
In one of the few, minor announcements at last weekend’s BC Liberal convention, Premier Christy Clark said Jordan Sturdy, the Parliamentary Secretary for Energy Literacy and the Environment, would attend the event in order to pick-up a UN Momentum for Change Award for B.C.’s carbon tax.
The official UN list of participants, dated November 10, includes Deputy Minister Fazil Mihlar, Assistant Deputy Minister Susanna Laaksonen-Craig and Mark Knudsen, Polak’s ministerial assistant.
BIV asked specifically for the approved budget for the trip, but spokesman David Karn said, “All costs will be released following the trip and once they have been finalized.”
The government said it spent $74,169 to send Premier Christy Clark, Polak and seven other staff members to COP 21 in Paris.
Karn also did not reveal why Sturdy, and not Polak, was leading the B.C. delegation.
Public disclosure forms released by the Office of the Conflict of Interest commissioner show that Sturdy has made some investments that might raise the eyebrows of environmentalists. He bought shares during the last year in GE (NYSE:GE), Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE:UEC), First Mining Finance (TSX-V:FF) and Brazil Resources. The latter company’s board includes former federal Liberal cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal.
The UN conference in Marrakech began November 7 and runs through November 18.
Last year, the federal government spent almost $974,000 to send politicians, bureaucrats and non-governmental organization representatives to Paris. The bill included $6,600 for a photographer to shadow Minister Catherine McKenna from photo op to photo op. By comparison, B.C. taxpayers paid $5,400 to send Clark’s videographer, Kyle Surovy, to Paris.
The Canadian delegation to Marrakech 2016, led by McKenna, includes more than 225 politicians, bureaucrats, and business, aboriginal, union and youth group representatives.
The UN provisional list of participants shows 25,903 attendees registered from national and subnational governments, agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and media.
