Ethics commissioner asked to look at AFNEC decision

Alberta’s Liberal energy critic Kent Hehr is asking the ethics commissioner to investigate the province’s rejection of a proposed $6.6-billion bitumen refinery operated by the First Nations. The Alberta First Nations Energy Centre was refused funding by Energy Minister Ted Morton. The government is saying the project had too many financial risks and not enough advanced preparation. Hehr is asking the province’s ethics commissioner to investigate if internal party politics and lobbying efforts from Spotlight Strategies Inc., a Calgary firm representing the North West Upgrader project and Enbridge, influenced the province to reverse their previous optimistic position.