Green party Leader David Coon, questioning Premier Blaine Higgs in the legislature on Wednesday about his office’s spending plans for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, said the pay band he’d seen for the principal secretary’s job was typically between $150,000 and $175,000 a year.
He then asked Higgs how long Outhouse – who is being paid $124,656 for his work as principal secretary, and who is also the Progressive Conservatives’ campaign manager – has been contracted for, and whether his role as principal secretary will expire when this year’s election is called.
Higgs’s confirmed that’s true, and that Outhouse’s contract runs for six months.
That equates to $20,776 a month. If his contract was at that rate for a year, it would have cost taxpayers $249,312.
“The nuance here is in the relation to the experience that Mr. Outhouse brings to this role,” Higgs said, reeling off Outhouse’s resumé and “extensive credentials.”
“Of course it’s of value to us as we define what objectives we have going forth, but also what objectives we want to meet before the election,” Higgs said.
Coon also asked how Outhouse is being expected to split his roles as principal secretary and campaign manager, given that one is purely political and the other isn’t.
“In that dual role, is the expectation for this contracted amount of money that he puts in full work days in the premier’s office as principal secretary and, I don’t know, does his other work as campaign manager work at night and on the weekends?”
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Higgs replied that the expectation is “obviously, that there are no taxpayers dollars used for the political role in any of this.”
“Certainly, the separation between the night duties and the day duties would be very clear.”
Asked on Thursday for comment about Outhouse’s pay, Liberal Leader Susan Holt described it as “the worst form of political pork-barrelling that I’ve seen in a long time.”
Communications questions
Higgs also revealed that the Executive Council Office has about 80 consulting firms on contract, including Alberta-based firm Mash Strategy.
Mash Strategy has worked with key leaders in Canada’s conservative movement, including federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall. The marketing and communications firm has also worked with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party.
Mash billed the province $72,000 for its work in 2023, Higgs said, and he expects its contract will be renewed this year.
Coon asked Higgs why the government needs to hire external communications firms when 96 staff members work in communications for the government.
“We all need to be more creative in how we develop news because no one is really reading long articles anymore and it’s how do you find an effective method to deliver information that people can understand and is relevant, so it needs to be in a concise format that makes sense,” Higgs said.
Coon also drilled into why the government is seeking help from an out-of-the-province firm like Mash to beef up the premier office’s messaging, advise his office on strategy and provide digital content creation. He pointed out the firm has been heavily involved with key conversative leaders.
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Higgs cited the importance of having a “diversity of opinion” among the province’s consultants, noting the province has debates on what are “very straightforward issues to some” but “to some are very controversial issues” with “very different views.”
“The idea is that we want a diversity of opinion and we want to be ensure that – as you point out these views might be more in line with our party – we deal with companies that have views in all directions, so it’s not picking on any particular one,” Higgs told Coon.
Higgs was scheduled to face more questions on Thursday, in his capacity as head of the Premier’s Council on Disabilities, but he didn’t participate. Instead, Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland subbed in.
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