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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she travelled on a private plane to Saudi Arabia last fall to meet with local government officials, following an invitation from a member of the Saudi royal family.
The premier’s office hasn’t discussed the flight publicly before but Smith confirmed it at a legislature committee meeting Tuesday when she answered questions about the Alberta government’s new budget.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Smith said the provincial ethics commissioner had signed off on any non-commercial travel ahead of the trip and that the use of private aircraft was proposed by the Saudi government to enable more “efficient movement” around the country.
Smith and a few members of her staff had travelled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the fall to discuss potential collaborations on energy development.
Smith said she was invited by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, who has served as the country’s minister of energy since 2019.
She noted that her relationship with Al Saud began years ago when they met at an energy convention in Calgary.
“He and I had a bond over the fact that we believed that we should be reducing global poverty at the same time as we are reducing global emissions and making sure we have energy security,” Smith said Tuesday.
“And that friendship developed into an invitation for me to be hosted in the kingdom.”
Smith said she also stayed in accommodation provided by her counterparts, which was social protocol and also approved by the ethics commissioner.
“We also consulted and received prior approval from the ethics commissioner to use non-commercial aircraft during that mission, so it was fully disclosed,” Smith said.
“It was proposed by the government of Saudi Arabia in order to enable efficient movement around the country, including two locations with limited commercial airline services.”
Smith said she met with a list of senior officials including the United Arab Emirate’s minister of industry, the minister of state for artificial intelligence, and the secretary general of OPEC.
She said she visited the country’s major oil field operations and gained important insight on the country’s energy industry and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Leader of the Alberta NDP Naheed Nenshi had questioned Smith about the trip which included a flight from Riyadh to Dubai, which Nenshi said was not disclosed in Smith’s official travel receipts.
Nenshi said commercial flights are readily available between those major hubs and noted that Smith has previously criticized politicians for relying on private flights for official business.
He called on Smith to table the specific advice provided by Alberta’s ethics commissioner regarding the acceptance of private international travel funded by a foreign government.
