Ethics investigation into Premier Danielle Smith adviser sought by environmental group

CBC

22-07-2025

Environmental lawyers are asking Alberta's ethics commissioner to investigate an energy regulator board member and adviser to Premier Danielle Smith for possible conflicts of interest.
The adviser, David Yager, also has his own oil and gas consulting company and has been awarded multiple sole-source government contracts to review industry rules and regulations since Smith became premier in 2022.
Those contracts include hiring Yager to spearhead a strategy for how Alberta can deal with its nearly 80,000 inactive — but not reclaimed — oil and gas wells.
Susanne Calabrese, a lawyer for Ecojustice, argues Yager's various appointments and roles put him at odds in crafting the strategy, which she says furthers industry interests over the public's.
Energy Minister Brian Jean's office, responding to a request for comment sent to Smith's office, said in a statement the province contracted Yager for his valuable experience in the oil sector and his perspective on industry issues.
"Mr. Yager has over 50 years of experience in upstream oil and gas and has been the founder, executive officer and director of three publicly traded oilfield service companies specializing in wellbore construction, completion, remediation, abandonment, production optimization, regulatory compliance and the physical protection of workers, assets and the community," said the statement.
It also said all sole-source contracts awarded to Yager — which total more than $400,000 and are called into question in the request to the ethics commissioner — were above board and proper procedures were followed.
Yager did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jean's office said in a followup statement Tuesday that Yager has not had any consulting contracts since he was awarded one with the ministry in 2023.
It also said the ethics commissioner had approved Yager's compliance to conflict of interest rules regarding his regulator board membership.
Jean's office added it would have an update in the fall on which recommendations from Yager's report would be acted upon.
Yager's report was published in April and contains nearly two dozen recommendations, including having legislation create companies to take over inactive wells and use profits for cleanup efforts.
Another suggests creating an industry-funded insurance program to cover liabilities related to closed wells.
A draft version of the report, leaked to media in March, garnered significant criticism as it said this fund was to be "ultimately backstopped by taxpayers."
When the final report was released, the wording was changed to say that the insurance program should be "managed" by the province.
Critics like Calabrese say the strategy and its recommendations are more focused on sustaining the financial viability of oil companies than accelerating cleanup of Alberta's inactive and orphan wells, which are estimated to cost more than $860 million to reclaim.
Calabrese, on behalf of a landowner with an orphan well on his property, formally asked on Tuesday for the ethics commissioner to determine if Yager's recommendations directly benefit companies he consulted for and if they go against his responsibility as a board member for the Alberta Energy Regulator, which operates at arm's length from government.
"In our opinion, it's impossible to represent the interests of a partisan government as special adviser, an independent regulator as part of the board of the [regulator], private companies in his consulting work, and then represent the public in creating this strategy all at the same time," Calabrese said in an interview.
"I hope that the ethics commissioner gives it the attention it deserves."
Yager, a one-time Wildrose party president and fundraiser for Smith, played a key role in merging Alberta's competing conservative parties in 2017.
Calabrese said the speed at which the government is moving on the recommendations is concerning and suggests the outcome of Yager's report was predetermined.
"If you have a flawed process like this, you get a flawed product," she said.
"It really undermines public trust."