November 7, 2025
RED FM News Desk
Alberta’s Opposition NDP is ramping up pressure on the provincial government over what it calls weakened ethics standards, unveiling a new proposal aimed at strengthening accountability in the legislature.
The NDP’s Private Members’ Bill 202 — dubbed the “No More Sky Boxes” bill — is a nod to the luxury suite where Premier Danielle Smith and several cabinet ministers watched NHL playoff games as guests of a company that does business with the province.
At a Thursday news conference, NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the bill, formally known as the Conflicts of Interest (Ethical Governance) Amendment Act, is designed to restore public trust.
“From Hockeygate, to Turkish Tylenol, to CorruptCare, this government has eroded public trust,” Nenshi said. “Albertans should be able to trust their government to serve the public, not themselves and their friends. It’s time for ethical, competent governance.”
He said the legislation would impose firm limits, shift decision-making authority from political staff to the ethics commissioner, and introduce mandatory disclosure rules.
NDP MLA Kyle Kasawski argued the current standards are too lax. He noted that in 2023, the UCP government increased the value of gifts MLAs can accept without ethics commissioner approval from $200 to $500, and raised the threshold for event tickets that don’t require disclosure from $400 to $1,000.
Under the NDP’s proposal, any gift over $100 would need to be publicly disclosed within 15 days, and the ethics commissioner — not the premier’s chief of staff — would determine whether MLAs are permitted to accept them.
The bill also calls for a formal code of conduct for political staff and clearer rules around decisions that, while not outright violations, may appear to pose conflicts of interest.
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