In a letter to the province's ethics commissioner, Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange described anger over the awarding of a contract for masks to a business in her riding a "faux controversy."

By Josh Hall

Red Deer company lands part of $4.7M deal

LaGrange decries “faux controversy” over mask contract in letter to ethics commissioner

Aug 10, 2020 | 5:39 PM

Alberta’s Education Minister says any concern over a business in her riding securing part of the government’s contract for back to school masks to help prevent COVID-19 spread is a “faux controversy.”

Adriana LaGrange used the term in a letter to the province’s Ethics Commissioner on Monday in response to criticism over the province’s contract with IFR Workwear.

On Saturday, LaGrange announced that IFR and American-based Old Navy had been tapped to produce 1.7 million reusable masks for students returning to classrooms in just a few weeks. The contracts are worth a total of $4.2 million with 90 per cent going to Old Navy and the other 10 per cent to IFR.

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LaGrange acknowledged in the letter that Reg Radford, CEO of IFR Workwear, donated $2,000 to her election campaign last year.

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“Founded in 2005, IFR is a well-established manufacturer of workwear that happens to be based in my constituency of Red Deer-North,” LaGrange wrote. “I would like to assure you that neither myself nor my political staff had any role in the selection of vendors for these masks.”

LaGrange said she was being “proactive” in writing to the ethics commissioner, who has not announced any investigation into the contract.

Lyn Radford with IFR Workwear acknowledged the fact her family has supported LaGrange as well as past conservative governments in the province.

“We live in the north Red Deer riding, and that is why we contributed there. We feel that we have just as much right as every person does in a democratic world to support who we want,” she said Monday.

“We’ve always supported a conservative-type government, we feel they mesh well with our values, but I hope people will always remember that we are very big givers back to the community, both financially and with our time. We have a very quality product. and that is what got us the contract, as well as the capability to produce a large amount.”

Premier Jason Kenney visited IFR Workwear during a trip to Red Deer last month.

Asked about the government granting the remainder of the contract to an American company, Radford says, “If anybody knows us, and our values, we’re Albertan first and Canadian second, so I think that would speak highly of what we think about it. Saying that, we recognize this is a very large contract that has to be fulfilled in a very short time, and trying to piecemeal it is very difficult.”

Radford says the province’s contract with IFR should be a good news story because it means the company can now hire workers to fulfill the order despite a larger portion of IFR’s masks being manufactured at their factory in Mexico.

She also explains that IFR does not sell to the end-user, but rather supplies product to one of its distributors, who then supplies to, in this case, the provincial government.

“Ordering 10,000 masks from one small company, 20,000 from another, etc. all the way up to 1.7 million wasn’t realistic given we have weeks to deliver to school divisions. The primary goal is getting the masks into the hands of Alberta families for the resumption of classes,” Municipal Affairs Press Secretary Timothy Gerwing tells rdnewsNOW.

“The fact that a company might be located in any given riding is irrelevant. Frankly, it’s disappointing that some are even suggesting that, unless they’re suggesting an Alberta employer should have been eliminated from contention because it happens to be located in a given riding.”

Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu, whose department handles the Provincial Operations Centre that procured the mask contracts, also wrote the ethics commissioner about the issue.

NDP Health Critic Sarah Hoffman says LaGrange should be less focused on writing letters and more focused on ensuring Alberta children are safe when they return to school.

“Instead they’ve been completely reactionary and last-minute with much of what they’ve done,” Hoffman said. “If the minister is working on anything other than keeping kids safe, she’s working on the wrong stuff.”