Alberta government facing scrutiny over bourbon distilleries tour in Kentucky

Résumé détaillé

The NDP says it amounts to a taxpayer-funded booze fest and has demanded the minister pay back $5,400 for the cost of the distillery tours.

Alberta’s government is bucking questions about the taxpayer cost of a delegation that toured Kentucky bourbon distilleries last year and brought a staffer’s husband along for the ride.

The office for Dale Nally, the minister of red tape reduction, says the husband of his chief of staff paid his own expenses.

But documents obtained by the Opposition NDP indicate Gary Davidson didn’t reimburse his share of group transportation costs.

The internal government documents and correspondence about the trip show distillery touring costs were split among industry stakeholders who paid their own way and expenses claimed by Nally, his deputy minister and his chief of staff.

The NDP says it amounts to a taxpayer-funded booze fest and has demanded the minister pay back $5,400 for the cost of the distillery tours.

New Democrats began asking about the trip last week, and Nally’s office has declined to answer questions about whether the minister consumed alcohol while touring about a dozen bourbon distilleries in early September 2025.

His office also declined to explain why Davidson joined the delegation. In 2019, Davidson ran unsuccessfully for a United Conservative Party nomination in a Red Deer riding.

The trip’s stated purpose was for meetings with Kentucky lawmakers and, when it was announced, representatives from Alberta’s whisky industry were invited at their own expense.

Last week, UCP Premier Danielle Smith defended Nally’s efforts to develop and promote the province’s whisky sector.

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