[First Lady]

... and the Edmonton Journal weighs in...

The Wildrose used all nine sets of questions allotted to them to ask about Redford’s role in the hiring decision, leading to countless shouts across the aisle and duelling points of order, forcing Speaker Gene Zwozdesky to interject several times to ask for decorum.

The government has said Tobacco Recovery Lawyers LLP was chosen through a competitive bid process in December 2010, when Redford was still justice minister. A review committee was used to consider three bidders.

However, an internal government memo obtained by CBC and the Wildrose party indicates Redford may have been involved in making the call.

The Dec. 14 memo, from Redford to deputy justice minister Ray Bodnarek, says: “I note that the review committee considers all three firms interviewed to be capable of adequately conducting the litigation and believes that while no consortium stood above the others, all three have unique strengths and weaknesses.

“Considering the perceived conflicts of interest, actual conflicts of interest, the structure of the contingency arrangements and the importance of a ‘made in Alberta’ litigation plan, the best choice for Alberta will be the International Tobacco Recovery Lawyers.”

Justice Minister Jonathan Denis was asked about the memo Wednesday morning and whether it indicated Redford played a role in the hiring decision.

“Not to my knowledge,” he said, adding that he had not seen the memo.

He later revised his statement, saying Redford was the one who decided which of the three firms the government should negotiate with.

The government then hired an outside firm to negotiate with Tobacco Recovery Lawyers LLP, a process that took six months. When the contract was finally signed in June 2011, the justice minister at the time was Verlyn Olson as Redford had stepped down to run for the PC party leadership.

“The final decision as to which firm to go with was made by (Olson) in June 2011,” Denis said.

“We chose this firm because we felt it was in the best interest of the province,” he added. “They are a local firm and they won’t face the national conflicts of interest the other firms would potentially face. Other jurisdictions have tried to hire this consortium in the past.”

One of the other bidders was national firm Bennett Jones, which is leading the litigation against big tobacco for up to six other Canadian provinces. But Denis said Alberta decided to go with separate representation in part to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

I get a kick out of the pictures they choose to run with stories....