EDMONTON—A former Alberta conservative leadership hopeful is warning the public not to be taken by political tactics used to distract from the issues while trying to clear his name from a $20,000 cellphone bill scandal. Thomas Lukaszuk, who served as MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs for 14 years and briefly as deputy premier of Alberta, is speaking out about a $20,000 cellphone expense scandal to warn the public not to fall for political distraction tactics. ( Claire Theobald / StarMetro Edmonton )The phone bill was later leaked to media in 2014, “those bills were placed in an envelope and slipped in the press gallery under reporters’ doors,” said Lukaszuk, in an interview Wednesday. We couldn’t locate that cabinet minister for a number of hours, a whole day at least,” Lukaszuk said. All of those video conferences were made using cellular data, and as the government was unable to purchase individual roaming packages for government cellphones, Lukaszuk’s bill ballooned.

Source: thestar August 10, 2018 20:32 UTC